Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ Of course, jurisdiction of an admiralty court-that is, power to hear and adjudge the issues, not merely to send out a monition-is not finally to be determined by mere allegations of the libel any more than jurisdiction of a court of law ultimately depends upon the plaintiff's allegation that the defendant is alive and within the district. ”

“ The District Court assumed that a libel in rem could be maintained against freight money admitted to be due and payable, but was of opinion that the fund must exist when the suit is begun, or that the jurisdiction fails. The Court held that where, as here, the liability was denied in good faith, it did not appear that there was any res to be proceeded against and that the suit must be dismissed. The counsel for Palmer & Parker Company pressed the same considerations here in a somewhat more extreme form.
By the general logic of the law a debt may be treated as a res as easily as a ship. ”

“ Here the debtor is within the power of the Court and therefore the debt, if there is one, is also within it. The Court has the same jurisdiction to try the existence of the debt that it has to try the claim of the libellant for the hire of the Mount Shasta. If the proof that there is freight due shall fail it does not matter very much whether it be called proof that the Court had no jurisdiction or proof that the plaintiff had no case. Either way the libel will be dismissed. ”