In re Petition of Boyer and another for a Writ of Prohibition. 1
| Decision Date | 07 January 1884 |
| Citation | 27 L.Ed. 1056,109 U.S. 629,3 S.Ct. 434 |
| Parties | In re Petition of BOYER and another for a Writ of Prohibition. 1 |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Robert Rae, for petitioners.
C. E. Kremer, for respondents.
The owners of the canal-boat Brilliant and her cargo filed a libel in admiralty, in the district court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois, against the steam canal-boat B & C, in a case of collision. The libel alleges that the Brilliant is a vessel of more than 20 tons burden, and employed, at the time of the collision, in the business of commerce and navigation between ports and places in different states and territories of the United States, upon the lakes and navigable waters connecting said lakes; that the B & C is a vessel of more than 20 tons burden, and was, at the time of the collision, enrolled and licensed for the coasting trade, and employed in the business of commerce and navigation between ports and places in different states and territories of the United States, upon the lakes and navigable waters connecting said lakes; that in August, 1882, the Brilliant, while bound from Morris, Illinois, to Chicago, Illinois, towed, with other canal-boats, by a steam canal-boat, and carrying the proper lights, and moving up the Illinois and Lake Michigan canal, about four miles south of the Chicago end of the canal, was, through the negligence of the B & C, struck and sunk, with her cargo, by the B & C, which was moving in the opposite direction, to the damage of the libelants, $1,500. The owners and claimants of the B & C answered the libel, giving their version of the collision, and alleging that it was wholly due to the faulty navigation of the Brilliant, and that it occurred on the Illinois and Michigan canal, at a place within the body of Cook county, in the state of Illinois. In November, 1883, the district court made an interlocutory decree, finding that both parties were in fault, and decreeing that they should each pay one-half of the damages occasioned by the collision, to be thereafter ascertained and assessed by the court. The owners of the B & C have now presented to this court a petition praying that a writ of prohibition may issue to the judge of the said district court, prohibiting him from proceeding further in said suit. The ground alleged for the writ is the want of jurisdiction of the district court, as a court of admiralty, over the waters where the collision occurred.
The Illinois and Michigan canal is an artificial navigable waterway, connecting Lake Michigan and the Chicago river with the Illinois river and the Mississippi river. By the act of congress of March 30, 1822, c. 14, (3 St. 659,) the use of certain public lands of the United States was vested in the state of Illinois forever, for a canal to connect the Illinois river with the southern bend of Lake Michigan. The act declared 'that the said canal, when completed, shall be and forever remain a public highway, for the use of the government of the United States, free from any toll or other charge whatever for any property of the United States, or persons...
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