11 U.S. 423 (1813), Williams v. Armroyd
| Citation | 11 U.S. 423, 3 L.Ed. 392 |
| Party Name | WILLIAM WILLIAMS AND OTHERS, APPELLANTS, v. GEORGE ARMROYD AND OTHERS, APPELLEES. |
| Case Date | March 08, 1813 |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Page 423
OPINION
Absent, TODD, J.
THIS was an appeal from the sentence of the Circuit Court for the district of Pennsylvania, which dismissed the libel with costs.
Page 424
The libel stated, that the schooner Fortitude, owned by Williams and others, citizens of the United States, having taken in a cargo of molasses at Martinico, sailed on the 20th of August, 1809, for New London. That on the next day she was piratically seized on the high seas by an armed schooner, shewing no colours, but asserted to be from Guadaloupe, and carried into St. Martin's, where the captain's papers were taken from him, and the vessel and cargo detained, as it was asserted, to wait the event of a trial. That on the 9th of September, the prize-master left St. Martin's for Guadaloupe, with a copy of the schooner's papers, under pretence of causing proceedings to be instituted in the French Court of Admiralty in that island. That on the 23d of September, the master of the Forititude went to St. Barthalomews, and on his return was informed, that during his absence the Governor had ordered the vessel and cargo to be sold at public sale; which was done and bought for the Governor and one of his council, as the Libellants believed. That immediately after the sale, the Governor took possession of the vessel, and on the 2d of October the cargo was landed, and 97 hogsheads of the molasses were shipped on board another vessel to Philadelphia, where they arrived, consigned to Armroyd and others, of whom the Libellants demanded it, but they refused to deliver it, or to account for the value of it.
A claim was interposed by George Armroyd & Co. in behalf of Richardson & Carty, and others, which stated, that on the 21st of August, 1809, and long before, war existed between Great Britain and France; that the Fortitude, being an American vessel at peace with the French empire, on her voyage from Martinico, a British colony, where she had been trading with the enemies of the French empire, during the war, in violation of the decrees and regulations of that empire, was seized by a French privateer, and carried to St. Martin's, as lawful prize to the captors; and her papers sent to a French tribunal, having competent jurisdiction, at Guadaloupe, under the sole and exclusive dominion and jurisdiction of the French empire; but the papers were captured on the passage to Guadaloupe. That the vessel and cargo, being so carried into St. Martin's, were there bona fide sold by order of the Dutch
Page 425
governor at the island, to whom such right belonged, by the laws and constitutions of the said island; and the goods in question, part of the cargo, were bona fide purchased by a certain I. L. Lapierre, and by him bona fide sold to a certainAbraham Concheyter, from whom they were afterwards bona fide purchased byRichards & Carty, for account of themselves and others.
By consent of parties, a sentence was passed proforma in the District Court, for the Libellants.
In the Circuit Court, upon the appeal, the Claimants exhibited a further answer, stating, that by a decree of the Registry of the Commission for prize causes of the island of Guadaloupe, and its dependencies, duly constituted a Court of Prize by the Emperor of France, on the 12th of October, 1809, the schooner Fortitude, and her cargo, were condemned, by a sentence which is set forth at large in the answer; the substance of which sentence is included in the following extract, viz.
'It results from the examination and from the analysis of the papers just mentioned, that the schooner Fortitude, captured by the French privateer, Le Fripon, is the property of a citizen of the United States of America; that she sailed from New London, bound to Martiuico, at which place she sold her cargo, and took in another of molasses for the said port of New London, and consequently she has incurred the penalty, pronounced by the 3d article of the Imperial decree, which directs new measures against the maritime system of England, and was given at the Royal Palace of Milan, on the 17th of September, 1807, inserted in the bulletin of the laws, No. 169, which article is as follows:
Every vessel whatever, and whatever be her cargo, which shall have cleared from any English port, colony, or country occupied by English troops, or which shall be bound to any English port, colony or country occupied by English troops, shall be good prize, as having infringed the present decree. Such vessels shall be captured by our men of war, and awarded to the captors.'
Page 426
'And after having heard the opinion of the inspector of marine, we have declared, and do declare, the American schooner Fortitude to have been well and duly captured by the French privateer, Le Fripon, and to be forfeited to the owners and crew of the said privateer; consequently the said schooner Fortitude, together with her cargo, is awarded to the captors to be sold in the customary form, if the sale has not already taken place; and the proceeds shall be distributed conformably to the ordinance concerning captures,' &c.
On the 19th of April, 1811, the Circuit Court reversed the sentence of the District Court, with costs; from which sentence of reversal, the Libellants appealed to this Court.
COUNSEL
LYMAN LAW, for the Appellants.
This condemnation was founded upon the Milan decree, which is admitted, on its face, to be in violation of the law of nations. It does not proceed on the ground of its being the property of an enemy, nor contraband of war, nor for violating a blockade. If it appear from the sentence itself, that the condemnation was not upon any ground recognized by the law of nations, nor upon the violation of any municipal right acknowledged by that law, this Court will not carry it into effect. France may, by her own municipal laws, regulate her own trade, but she has no right to control ours, beyond her territorial jurisdiction, further than to protect her own belligerent rights, acknowledged by the law of nations. If we violate no such right, and if we do not carry our property within her territorial jurisdiction, she has no right to regulate our trade. Her condemnation, grounded upon regulations which she has no right, according to the law of nations, to make, is void. But even if she had a right to condemn, her condemnation can transfer no title, unless the thing itself be in her possession, at the time of condemnation, so that the possession may pass with the title. Here the property never was within the jurisdiction of the Court at Guadalope. It had been sold and delivered by the Dutch governor, before the condemnation. It does not appear that he had any authority either from the captors, or from the Court, to make the sale. The purchaser cannot
Page 427
derive from the governor a better title than the governor had at the time of sale.
I. R. INGERSOLL, contra.
It is acknowledged that a tribunal, professing to be a Court of Admiralty, has condemned the property in question, and that the Appellees possess it by virtue of a capture on the high seas. This is prima facie evidence of the correctness of the title, and throws the onus probandi upon the Appellants.
A Court of Admiralty is a Court whose jurisdiction is co-ordinate with that of every other throughout the world. The Admiralty law is 'of all times and of all nations,' and its decrees, so far as they uffect the thing itself, and so long as they remain unreversed, can never be questioned. The end being gained, it is an immaterial question, what were the means, as they are sanctified by the end. Whether the proceedings are erroneous, or not, according to our notions of right and wrong, whether they are predicated upon a mistake of the law, or ofthe fact, or are founded upon regulations consistent with, or repugnant to, the law of nations, are questions wholly immaterial. The sentence has sealed the proceedings, and those questions can never judiciary come before this Court.
In confirmation of these positions, it might be sufficient to refer to the decisions of this Court, where the principles are settled.
In the case of Rose v. Himely, 4 Cr. 292, this Court refused to confirm the property of the alleged purchaser, because the Court, passing...
To continue reading
Request your trial