Maul v. United States

• Decision Date: 31 May 1927
• Docket Number: No. 655,655
• Parties: MAUL v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

274 U.S. 501

47 S.Ct. 735

71 L.Ed. 1171

MAUL

v UNITED STATES.

No. 655.

Argued Jan. 19, 20, 1927.

Decided May 31, 1927.

Messrs. Nathan April, of New York City, and Howard M.

Long, of Philadelphia, Pa., for petitioner.

Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the United States.

Mr. Justice VAN DEVANTER delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a libel of information for the forfeiture of the Underwriter, an American vessel enrolled and licensed for the coastwise trade. Five causes of forfeiture are set forth. One is that, in violation of section 4377 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 8132), the vessel was employed in a trade other than that for which she was licensed. Another is that, in violation of section 4337 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 8086), the vessel proceeded from the United States on a foreign voyage without giving up her enrollment and license and without being duly registered. The others are not now insisted on.

In December, 1924, officers of the Coast Guard seized the vessel on the high seas, 34 miles from the coast, and turned her over to the collector of customs at New London, Conn., whereupon the libel was filed and the vessel arrested.

The case was heard on an agreed statement of facts and an exception by the claimant, Maul, to the court's jurisdiction. The exception was sustained, on the theory that the officers of the Coast Guard were without authority to seize the vessel at sea more than 12 miles from the coast, and a decree dismissing the libel was entered. The Underwriter (D. C.) 6 F.(2d) 937. The Circuit Court of Appeals held the exception untenable, sustained the two causes of forfeiture before stated, and accordingly reversed the decree. 13 F.(2d) 433. The claimant petitioned for a review by this court on certiorari, and the petition was granted.

The claimant does not question here that the agreed facts establish the two causes of forfeiture, but does insist that the seizure was made without authority, and particularly that officers of the Coast Guard were not authorized to make such a seizure on the high seas more than 12 miles from the coast. The question has several phases which will be considered.

It is well to bear in mind that the case neither involves the seizure of a foreign vessel, nor an exercise of asserted authority to board and search a vessel, domestic or foreign, for the purpose of detecting and thwarting in- tended smuggling. The seizure was of an American vessel, then on the high seas and more than 12 Miles from the coast, which had become 'liable to seizure and forfeiture' by reason of definite and accomplished violations of the law under which she was enrolled and licensed.

Section 45 of the Judicial Code declares:

'Proceedings on seizures made on the high seas, for forfeiture under any law of the United States, may be prosecuted in any district into which the property so seized is brought and proceedings instituted.' Comp. St. § 1027.

This provision originated with the Judiciary Act of 1789, c. 20, § 9, 1 Stat. 73, has remained in force ever since (section 734, Rev. Stat.), and plainly recognizes that seizures for forfeitures may be made on the high seas. See The Merino, 9 Wheat. 391, 401, 402, 6 L. Ed. 118; The Abby, 1 Fed. Cas. 26, No. 14. True, it does not indicate how or by whom the seizures may be effected; but other provisions speak to the point. There is need to trace them from the beginning, and in doing so it should be in mind that officers of the Coast Guard are to be deemed customs officers, a matter which will be explained later on.

The Act of July 31, 1789, c. 5, 1 Stat. 29, regulating the collection of duties on the tonnage of vessels and on the importation of merchandise, contained several provisions declaring that vessels violating its provisions should be liable to seizure and forfeiture, and also a section (26) authorizing customs officers 'to make seizure of and secure any ship or vessel, goods, or merchandise, which shall be liable to seizure by virtue of this act, as well without, as within their respective districts.' That act was repealed by the Act of August 4, 1790, c. 35, 1 Stat. 145, which enlarged the prior regulations and contained a section (50) giving customs officers the same authority to make seizures that was given before. Next came the Act of March 2, 1799, c. 22, 1 Stat. 627, which again enlarged the regulations and contained a section (70) respecting seizures which was like that in the prior acts. This last provision is now section 3072 of the Revised Statutes and reads as follows:

'It shall be the duty of the several officers of the customs to seize and secure any vessel or merchandise which shall become liable to seizure by virtue of any law respecting the revenue, as well without as within their respective districts.' Comp. St. § 5775.

Along with the provision thus carefully preserved, the several acts contained other provisions distinct from it which authorized customs officers to board and search vessels bound to the United States and to inspect their manifests, examine their cargoes, and prevent any unlading while they were coming in. A supplemental Act of July 18, 1866, c. 201, 14 Stat. 178, enlarged that provision by declaring that, if it appeared to the officer making the search that there had been a violation of the laws of the United States whereby the vessel or any merchandise thereon was liable to forfeiture, he should make seizure of the same. The provision so enlarged became section 3059 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 5761). In the early acts the authority to board and search was limited, not only to vessels bound to the United States, but to such as were within the territorial waters of the United States or within 4 leagues (12 miles) of the coast. But in the act of 1866 and in section 3059 of the Revised Statutes the words expressing these restrictions were omitted. Possibly the omission was not significant, for the same restrictions were expressed in section 3067 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. § 5770), which related to the boarding and searching of vessels.

The Act of September 21, 1922, c. 356, 42 Stat. 858, 979, 989, repealed sections 3059 and 3067 of the Revised Statutes, and enacted a provision dealing with the same subject and reading as follows:

'Sec. 581. Boarding Vessels. Officers of the customs or of the Coast Guard, and agents or other persons authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury, or appointed for that purpose in writing by a collector may at any time go on board of any vessel or vehicle at any place in the United States or within four leagues of the coast of the United States, without as well as within their respective districts, to examine the manifest and to inspect, search, and examine the vessel or vehicle, and every part thereof, and any person, trunk, or package on board, and to this end to hail and stop such vessel or vehicle, if under way, and use all necessary force to compel compliance, and if it shall appear that any breach or violation of the laws of the United States has been committed, whereby or in consequence of which such vessel or vehicle, or the merchandise, or any part thereof, on board of or imported by such vessel or vehicle is liable to forfeiture, it shall be the duty of such officer to make seizure of the same, and to arrest, or, in case of escape or attempted escape, to pursue and arrest any person engaged in such breach or violation.

'Officers of the Department of Commerce and other persons authorized by such department may go on board of any vessel at any place in the United States or within four leagues of the coast of the United States and hail, stop, and board such vessels in the enforcement of the navigation laws and arrest or, in the case of escape or attempted escape, pursue and arrest any person engaged in the breach or violation of the navigation laws.' Comp. St. § 5841h.

The last paragraph of this provision relates to the apprehension and arrest of individuals violating the navigation laws, not to the seizure of vessels; and neither party bases any contention or argument on it. So it may be passed as without bearing here.

But the claimant contends, and the District Court ruled, that the first paragraph is now the sole source and meas- ure of the authority of Coast Guard officers to seize vessels, and that, as it provides only for seizure within the United States or within 12 miles of the coast, a seizure outside these limits is unlawful. The contention is faulty in that it puts aside section 3072 of the Revised Statutes, before quoted, which authorizes customs officers to seize any vessel 'liable to seizure by virtue of any law respecting the revenue' and declares, without limiting words, that this authority may be exercised 'as well without as within their respective districts.'

Without doubt the provision in the act of 1922 is intended to take the place of sections 3059 and 3067 of the Revised Statutes. It deals with the same subject and is accompanied by an express repeal of those sections. But it is not accompanied by a repeal of section 3072, and there is otherwise no reason for thinking it is intended to repeal or disturb that section. While the new provision and section 3072 are closely related, and both are directed to the protection of the revenue, they are distinct, free from real repugnance, and well may stand together. One provides primarily for boarding and searching vessels, within prescribed limits, to discover and prevent intended smuggling, and secondarily for the prompt seizure of the vessel by the searching officer if the search discloses a violation of law which subjects her to forfeiture. The other provides broadly, and without restriction as to place, for the seizure of vessels which, through violation of the laws respecting the revenue, have become liable to seizure. While the former restricts the authority to board and search to particular limits-the territorial waters and...