Sylvan Peyroux Planter v. William Howard Francois Varion

• Decision Date: 01 January 1833
• Parties: SYLVAN PEYROUX and others, Claimants of The Steamboat PLANTER, Appellants, v. WILLIAM L. HOWARD and FRANCOIS VARION, Libellants
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

32 U.S. 324

7 Pet. 324

8 L.Ed. 700

SYLVAN PEYROUX and others, Claimants of The Steamboat

PLANTER, Appellants,

v. WILLIAM L. HOWARD and FRANCOIS VARION, Libellants.

January Term, 1833

APPEAL from the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. In the district court, a libel was filed, on the 10th December 1830, by Howard & Varion, shipwrights, residing in New Orleans, against the steamboat Planter, claiming the sum of $2193.35, being the balance asserted to be due to them for the price of work, labor, materials furnished, and repairs made, on the said boat, under contracts of 13th September and 19th October 1830; and alleging that, by the admiralty law and the law of the state of Louisiana, they had a lien on the said boat for the payment of the same; and that she was about leaving the port of New Orleans, and praying process, &c. The account for the work, materials, &c., was annexed to the libel.

The owners of the steamboat Planter filed a claim and plea, setting forth, that they were all citizens of Louisiana, all resided in the city of New Orleans, and that the libellants were also citizens of that state; and that, therefore, the district court of the United States had not jurisdiction of the case. By a supplemental answer, the respondents denied all the facts set forth in the libel.

The plea to the jurisdiction of the court was overruled and dismissed; and the parties proceeded to take the testimony of witnesses, by depositions, which were filed as part of the proceedings in the case. By the first contract, the shipwrights stipulated to do certain specified work, and furnish certain materials, the same to be approved by 'experts,' for which they were to be paid the sum of $1150. By the contract of the 19th of October, the Planter was to be hauled on shore, and in consideration of $475, of which $200 was to be paid in cash, and $275 in one month after the boat should be launched and set afloat, certain other repairs were to be done to her, and she should be delivered and ready to receive a cargo by the 20th of November, under a penalty of $25 per day for each day her delivery should afterwards be retarded by the shipwrights. The evidence in the case is fully stated in the opinion of the court.

The district court made the following decree: 'The libellants claim a balance due them of $2193.35 for work and materials furnished in the repairs of the steamboat Planter, at the request of the claimants, and for which they have a lien by the local law. The claimants, in their first answer, deny the jurisdiction of the court, on the ground, that all the parties were citizens of the same state, to wit, of Louisiana; that objection, however, was not insisted upon at the trial, and is not sustainable on the admiralty side of this court. In their supplemental answer, they deny generally the allegations of the libellants, and pray for the dismissal of the libel and damages. The whole account of the libellants against the owners amounts to $3693.35, including the amount of the written contracts entered into between the parties; of this sum they acknowledge the payment of $1500, leaving, as they allege, a balance of $2193.35 due them. By the first contract, made on the 11th September 1830 (the boat being then in the water), the libellants agreed, for the sum of $1150, to make certain repairs on that part of the boat which was above water, from the wheel-house to the bow; and it was further stipulated, that if they made any other repairs, by replacing unsound timbers, in any other part of the boat above water, not then discovered, they were to be paid separately for so much. After commencing the work, it was perceived, that the boat required repairs under the water as well as above, and in consequence of that discovery, the claimants, through Captain Jarreau, master of the boat, and one of the owners, agreed to pay the libellants $475 for hauling out the boat, and for launching her, when she should be repaired; and as the quantity of work to be done was uncertain, it was stipulated, that an account of it should be kept, and if approved by Captain Jarreau, under whose inspection the work was to be done, the claimants bound themselves to pay the amount thus to be ascertained; this latter contract was made on the 19th October last. After the boat was hauled out, it appears, the work under both contracts was carried on simultaneously. On a first view of the account-current exhibited in this case, it would seem, from the dates, that at least a part of the work to be done under the first contract was again charged, but the subsequent testimony taken in this case shows that these charges were made on account of the extra repairs provided for under the first contract; and it further appears, that all the charges made after the 19th of October, have no relation to the first agreement, but all relate to the work contemplated by the second contract. From the complexion of the testimony taken by the complainants, their real defence seems to be, that the prices of the work charged are greater than they should be, that it was not executed in a proper manner, and that the libellants have forfeited a considerable sum of money, in consequence of not delivering the boat within the time stipulated in the contract. As to the first two objections, the evidence is conclusive in favor of the libellants; Captain Jarreau, himself, upon being shown the account, did not object to it; on the contrary, expressed himself satisfied with the work, and said he was 'not surprised at it, because there was a great deal more work done than he had any idea of;' with respect to the non-delivery of the boat at the time agreed upon, the fault chiefly attaches to Captain Jarreau, who, in several instances, retarded the work, by opposing repairs which were proposed by the libellants, but which turned out to be indispensable, and were afterwards ordered by him to be made; besides, he promised them indemnity against their obligation to pay $25 a day for every day they were in default in delivering the boat, and gave as the reason, that they had to do more work than was at first anticipated. The charge of $475, is for the specific service of hauling out and launching the boat, and must be allowed as such. On the whole, the evidence and exhibits in the case fully sustain the demand of the libellants; it is, therefore, ordered, adjudged and decreed, that the claimants pay to them the said sum of 1193.35, and costs of suit.'

From this decree the owners of the Planter appealed to this court.

The case was argued by Morton, for the appellants; Livingston submitted a printed argument.

For the appellants, it was contended:—1. It does not appear, upon the proceedings, that the court below had jurisdiction. 2. That the libellants had waived any privilege or lien upon hte said steamboat, under the laws of Louisiana, and therefore, proceedings in rem were improper. 3. Though the court had jurisdiction, yet the decree rendered is erroneous.

On the first point, 'that it does not appear, upon the proceedings, that the court below had jurisdiction;' Mr. Morton contended, that jurisdiction should appear affirmatively, for the district courts of the United States are of limited jurisdiction, and their proceedings are erroneous, if the jurisdiction be not shown upon them. Kempe's Lessees v. Kennedy, 5 Cranch 184; Walker v. Turner, 9 Wheat. 541. And this rule is applicable to all courts of inferior jurisdiction (Stanyon v. Davis, 6 Mod. 224; Lord Coningsby's Case, 9 Ibid. 95); and has been adopted by the appellate court, from the earliest periods of judicial history, for the purpose of restraining inferior tribunals within their appropriate spheres of action, and preventing the possibility of their passing those bounds, even by the assent of parties below, to the erroneous exercise of power.

To sustain the jurisdiction of the court below, it must appear affirmatively, either that the Planter was a 'foreign vessel,' or, being a domestic vessel, that the lien or privilege created by the laws of Louisiana, constituted her a proper subject for the action of a court of admiralty. The first is not contended for on the part of the libellants; and to maintain the second, it must be shown affirmatively, that the Planter 'was engaged in a maritime employment,' being a navigation 'super altum mare,' or 'substantially upon waters within ebb and flow of the tide,' constituting a case of admiralty jurisdiction, as recognised 'by the law admiralty and maritime, as it has existed for ages,' which alone, the admiralty courts of the United States act under, and have authority to administer to the cases as they arise. The Thomas Jefferson, 10 Wheat. 428; American Insurance Company v. Canter, 1 Pet. 545; The St. Jago de Cuba, 9 Wheat. 409, 416; The General Smith, 4 Ibid. 438; Ramsay v. Allegre, 12 Ibid. 611; The Robert Fulton, 1 Paine 620. Admiralty jurisdiction is not then to be inferred, because a vessel is the subject, and a state law has created a lien, however positively these facts may be alleged upon a record, and remain uncontroverted; a converse doctrine would have sustained the jurisdiction in the case of The Jefferson, before cited; and would equally establish an admiralty jurisdiction, where state laws had created liens, whether upon tideless rivers or upon the waters of the lakes; in all of which cases, it may be observed, that the vice-admiralty colonial courts would have exercised jurisdiction, by virtue of their peculiar commissions; but not as cases of admiralty jurisdiction, which they never were, and to constitute them such would not be within the power of congress; though, to a certain extent, a jurisdiction over them might be conferred upon the district courts, under the power 'to regulate commerce among the states,' as is intimated in the case of The Jefferson. For the extent of power conferred on the vice-admiralty courts by their commissions, see 2 Gallis....