Nathan Clifford

“ Goods of a maritime character seized under the principal collection act were at one time required to be put into the custody of the collector, and it is undoubtedly true that in respect to such goods the collector is responsible for the safe custody of the same to the same extent as the marshal is for such as remain in his possession and keeping, and the rule applied to each alike is that the keeper is responsible for any loss or injury which the goods sustain by his neglect or want of due care. ”

“ Proof of probable cause, if shown by the certificate of the District Court which rendered the decree discharging the property, is a good defence to an action of trespass brought by the claimant against the collector who made the executive seizure, provided it appears that judicial proceedings were instituted and that the charge against the property was prosecuted to a final judicial determination. ”

“ It was resolved in the leading case that not doing a thing cannot make a party a trespasser ab initio, because not doing is no trespass, and, therefore, if the lessor distrains for his rent and thereupon the lessee tenders him the rent and arrears, and requires his beasts again, and the lessor will not deliver them, this not doing cannot make him a trespasser, and that rule was affirmed in the case of West v. Nibbs, [6] by the whole court. ”