Roger B. Taney

“ If there were no waters in the United States which are public, as contradistinguished from private, except where there is tide, then unquestionably here as well as in England, tide-water must be the limits of admiralty power. And as the English definition was adopted in our courts, and constantly used in judicial proceedings and forms of pleading, borrowed from England, the public character of the river was in process of time lost sight of, and the jurisdiction of the admiralty treated as if it was limited by the tide. ”

“ Now the judicial power in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, has never been supposed to extend to contracts made on land and to be executed on land. But if the power of regulating commerce can be made the foundation of jurisdiction in its courts, and a new and extended admiralty jurisdiction beyond its heretofore known and admitted limits, may be created on water under that authority, the same reason would justify the same exercise of power on land. ”

“ And certainly there can be no reason for admiralty power over a public tide-water, which does not apply with equal force to any other public water used for commercial purposes and foreign trade. The lakes and the waters connecting them are undoubtedly public waters; and we think are within the grant of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction in the Constitution of the United States.
We are the more convinced of the correctness of the rule we have now laid down, because it is obviously the one adopted by Congress in 1789 when the government went into operation. ”

“ For we are persuaded that if one had occurred and attracted the attention of the court to this point before the English definition had become the settled mode of describing the jurisdiction, and before the courts had been accustomed to adhere strictly to the English mode of pleading, in which the place is always averred to be within the ebb and flow of the tide, the definition in the act of 1789, which is so evidently the correct one, would have been adopted by the courts, and the difficulty which has now arisen would not have taken place. ”

“ The principal objection made to the admiralty jurisdiction is the want of the trial by jury. And it is this feature in the admiralty practice which made it the object of so much jealousy in England in the time of Lord Coke, and enabled him to succeed in his efforts to restrict it to very narrow limits. But experience in England has proved that a wider range of jurisdiction was necessary for the benefit of commerce and navigation ”

“ It may be observed, in the first place, that the act does not purport to be a regulation of commerce. The title of the act shows that its object is simply to extend the jurisdiction of the district courts to cases which were not before within the cognizance of those courts. Although the title of an act cannot be regarded as any part of the act itself, it is sometimes resorted to, to ascertain the object and purpose of its enactment. ”

“ Courts of admiralty have been found necessary in all commercial countries, not only for the safety and convenience of commerce, and the speedy decision of controversies, where delay would often be ruin, but also to administer the laws of nations in a season of war, and to determine the validity of captures and questions of prize or no prize in a judicial proceeding. ”

“ If it had, we should have felt ourselves bound to follow it notwithstanding the opinion we have expressed. For every one would suppose that after the decision of this court, in a matter of that kind, he might safely enter into contracts, upon the faith that rights thus acquired would not be disturbed. ”

“ The libellants are not entitled to recover in this case upon the merits, without showing negligence on the part of the Chief, accompanied with freedom from blame on the part of the Cuba. Abbott on Ship., 238, Perkins's ed., 312. The burden of proving negligence is on the libellants. ”

“ The cause was tried before his honor the district judge, in April, 1848, and a decree passed in favor of the libellants. The respondents appealed to the Circuit Court, and the cause was tried in that court in June, 1849. ”