Maritime jurisdiction

“ It seems to be settled in our jurisprudence that, so long as congress does not interpose to regulate the subject, the rights of material men furnishing necessaries to a vessel in her home port may be regulated in each state by state legislation. State laws, it is true, cannot exclude the contract for furnishing such necessaries from the domain of admiralty jurisdiction, for it is a maritime contract, and they cannot alter the limits of that jurisdiction ”

“ The maritime law proceeds on equitable principles and endeavors to accomplish substantial justice between litigants, with brevity, celerity and simplicity. It is impatient at technicalities and cunning bargains. Its jurisdiction is not limited by any financial amount or geographical boundaries, so long as the transaction is maritime in its nature. It is quick to redress unfair dealing or oppression. There is no distinction as to the persons who may invoke its aid. ”

“ Maritime law is not a monistic system. The State and Federal Governments jointly exert regulatory powers today as they have played joint roles in the development of maritime law throughout our history. [43] This sharing of competence in one aspect of our federalism has been traditionally embodied in the saving clause of the Act of 1789. Here, as is so often true in our federal system, allocations of jurisdiction have been carefully wrought to correspond to the realities of power and interest and national policy. ”

“ In contrast with the writings of Welwood may be cited the opinions of another and more eminent Scottish lawyer, Sir Thomas Craig, who touched upon the subject of maritime jurisdiction in a non-controversial work published before the juridical controversy had arisen.640 He states that the sea is common to all for navigation, but that property and jurisdiction in the adjacent sea pertains to the neighbouring territory according to the current opinion—the sea washing the coast of France, England, Scotland, Ireland, &c., to the respective countries. ”

“ Maritime liens are of little or no value, in a country where there are no appropriate tribunals for their enforcement, as they must remain dormant and unavailable, but the denial of such jurisdiction to her admiralty courts, by one country, whether it be by legislation or by the prohibitions of her common law courts, cannot have the effect to impair or diminish the jurisdiction in such cases of the admiralty courts of any other country, if they are legally clothed with the power and authority to enforce such remedies for the breach of a maritime contract. ”

“ But the Supreme Court held that it could not have been so intended, and that the true construction was, that the jurisdiction embraced all suits of a maritime nature not properly cognizable at common law, and, consequently, all those relating to maritime matters over which the common law had usurped or otherwise obtained jurisdiction; thus extending the jurisdiction to the largest limit ever claimed for it. ”

“ All rules of the Law of Nations concerning navigation, fishery, and jurisdiction within the maritime belt apply likewise to navigation, fishery, and jurisdiction within straits. Foreign merchantmen, therefore, [Pg 267] cannot [357] be excluded; foreign men-of-war must be admitted to such straits as form part of the highways for international traffic; [358] the right of fishery may exclusively be reserved for subjects of the littoral State; and the latter can exercise jurisdiction over all foreign merchantmen passing through the straits. ”

“ But freight is the mother of wages. The whole subject of affreightment is purely maritime, and within the jurisdiction of all the Continental courts, and of Scotland, to this day. 1 Summer, 555, 558, 559.
What are the history and principles of English admiralty jurisdiction as settled by the common law courts? The principle is, that if a contract be made upon land, to be performed upon the sea, or made upon the sea, to be performed upon land, the courts of admiralty have no jurisdiction. ”

“ The particular grounds on which a conflict with section 2 of article 3 is asserted are that the statute enables a seaman asserting a cause of action essentially maritime to withdraw it from the reach of the maritime law and the admiralty jurisdiction, and to have it determined according to the principles of a different system applicable to a distinct and irrelevant field, and also disregards the restriction in respect of uniformity. For reasons which will be stated we think neither ground can be sustained. ”

“ I. Agreements for carrying passengers and freight on the high seas are maritime contracts, pertaining exclusively to the business of commerce and navigation, and may be enforced specifically against the vessel by courts of admiralty proceeding in rem.
No express pledge is necessary in order to create the lien.
The jurisdiction in rem for breach of contracts of affreightments, by vills of lading or otherwise, is recognised by numerous cases. The ground of such jurisdiction rests upon the maritime nature and subject-matter of the contract. 6 How. ”

“ Doubtless they are municipal regulations, yet binding upon American vessels, either in American waters or on the high seas. Nor can the British orders in council control our vessels, though they may their own. We concede also that whether an act is tortious or not must generally be determined by the laws of the place where the act was committed. But every American vessel, outside of the jurisdiction of a foreign power, is, for some purposes at least, a part of the American territory, and our laws are the rules for its guidance. ”

“ With full authority to bind the vessel, his position is such that it is almost impossible for him to acquaint himself with the laws of each individual state he may visit, and he has a right to suppose that the general maritime law applies to him and his ship, wherever she may go, unhampered by laws which are mainly intended for local application, or for domestic vessels. ”

“ Whilst it is true that the great mass of maritime law is the same in all commercial countries, yet, in each country, peculiarities exist either as to some of the rules, or in the mode of enforcing them. ”

“ It has been argued, that no ship has a right to approach another at sea; and that every ship has a right to draw round her a line of jurisdiction, within which no other is at liberty to intrude. In short, that she may appropriate so much of the ocean as she may deem necessary for her protection, and prevent any nearer approach. ”

“ It may work injustice in particular cases where the exemptions are accorded to vessels of foreign nations which have no corresponding law, but this is not a matter within the purview of the courts. It is not improbable that similar provisions may ultimately be incorporated in the general law maritime. ”

“ This account of the maritime law, if correct, plainly shows that in particular matters, especially such as approach a merely municipal character, the received maritime law may differ in different countries without affecting the general integrity of the system as a harmonious whole. The government of one country may be willing to give to its citizens, who supply a ship with provisions at her home port where the owner himself resides, a lien on the ship ”

“ The first of these qualifications can rarely be called into requisition at the present day, since, for more than 20 years past, all the principal maritime nations of the world (at least, those whose vessels navigate the Atlantic ocean) have concurred in adopting a uniform set of rules and regulations for the government of vessels on the high seas. ”

“ We held today in Sociedad Nacional that the Act does not apply to foreign-registered ships employing alien seamen. The holding and reasoning in that case are equally applicable to the maritime operations here, leading to the conclusion that the Act does not apply. ”

“ Whereas, in matters affecting the stranger or foreigner, the commonly received law of the whole commercial world is more assiduously observed, in justice, it should be. No one doubts that every nation may adopt its own maritime code. France may adopt one, England another, the United States a third ”