Alexandre v. Machan
Citation | 13 S.Ct. 211,147 U.S. 72,37 L.Ed. 84 |
Decision Date | 03 January 1893 |
Docket Number | No. 61,61 |
Parties | ALEXANDRE et al. v. MACHAN et al |
Court | United States Supreme Court |
Statement by Mr. Justice BROWN.
This was a libel by the owners of the British barque Helen against the American steamship City of New York for a collision, which occurred on the evening of June 28, 1879, off the New Jersey coast between Barnegat and Absecon, and resulted in the sinking of the Helen, and the total loss of the vessel and cargo. The district court found both vessels to have been in fault, and decreed an apportionment of damages. 15 Fed. Rep. 624. Both parties appealed to the circuit court, by which the decree of the district court was reversed, the City of New York found to have been solely in fault, and a final decree entered for the libelants for $60,223.12, including costs. 35 Fed. Rep. 604. From this decree the owners of the steamship appealed to this court. The following facts and conclusions of law were found by the circuit court:
'(2) The collision took place at a point off the coast of New Jersey, 6 1/4 miles from shore, in 10 fathoms of water, 12 1/2 miles from Barnegat lighthouse, and 9 1/2 miles from Tucker's Beach lighthouse.
The sixth finding relates only to the damages, and is immaterial.
R. D. Benedict, for appellants.
G. A. Black, for appellees.
Mr. Justice BROWN, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.
Notwithstanding the ruling of this court in The Abbotsford, 98 U. S. 440, that the finding of facts by the circuit court is conclusive, and that the only rulings that can be reviewed by this court are those made upon questions of law, but few collision cases have been brought to this court since the act of February 16, 1875, (18 St. p. 315,) took effect, in which an effort has not been made, under one guise or another, to obtain a review of the findings of the circuit judge upon the testimony. If it were the duty of the court to review the testimony upon every finding of fact to which the defeated party chose to take an exception, and inquire whether such testimony authorized the finding, the title of the act 'To facilitate the disposition of cases' was a misnomer, and the act itself might better never have been passed. In this case 16 exceptions were taken to the findings of the court; 21 specifications of error are embodied in the seventeenth exception to the opinion of the court, which was incorporated in the bill of exceptions; and there are also 35 exceptions to the refusal of the court to find the facts and law as requested by the claimants.
In construing the act of 1875 the following propositions may be regarded as settled:
(1) That the facts found by the court below are conclusive; that the bill of exceptions cannot be used to bring up the evidence for a review of these findings; that the only rulings upon which we are authorized to pass are such as might be presented by a bill of exceptions prepared as in actions at law; and that the findings have practically the same effect as the special verdict of a jury. The Abbotsford, 98 U. S. 440; The Clara, 102 U. S. 200; The Benefactor, Id. 214; The Annie Lindsley, 104 U. S. 185; Collins v. Riley, Id. 322; Sun Mut. Ins. Co. v. Ocean Ins. Co., 107 U. S. 485, 1 Sup. Ct. Rep. 582; Watts v. Camors, 115 U. S. 353, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 91; The Maggie J. Smith, 123 U. S. 349, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 159; The Gazelle, 128 U. S. 474, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 139.
(2) That it is only the ultimate facts which the court is bound to find; and that this court will not take notice of a refusal to find the mere incidental facts, which only amount to evidence from which the ultimate fact is to be obtained. The Francis Wright, 105 U. S. 381; Insurance Co. v. Allen, 121 U. S. 67, 71, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 821; The John H. Pearson, 121 U. S. 469, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1008.
(3) If the court below neglects or refuses to make a finding one way or the other as to the existence of a material fact, which has been established by uncontradicted evidence, or if it finds such a fact when not supported by any evidence whatever, and an exception be taken, the question may be brought up for review in that particular. In the one case the refusal to find would be equivalent to finding that the fact was immaterial; and, in the other, that there was some evidence to prove what is found, when in truth there was none. Both of these are questions of law, and proper subjects for review in an appellate court. The Francis Wright, 105 U. S. 381, 387; The E. A. Packer, 140 U. S. 360, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 794.
In the case of The Francis Wright the court held that the bill of exceptions ought to show the grounds relied on to sustain the objections, so that it might appear that the court below was properly informed as to the point to be decided, and that the facts sought to be incorporated were conclusively proven by uncontradicted evidence; and, if the exception were as to facts found, it should be stated that it was because there was no evidence to support them, and then so much of the testimony as was necessary to establish this ground of complaint, which might under some circumstances include the whole, should be incorporated in the bill of exceptions. In The E. A. Packer, 140 U. S. 360, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 794, the circuit court refused to find a...
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