Steam Navigation Company v. Byrne

• Decision Date: 20 December 1915
• Docket Number: No. 288,INTER-ISLAND,288
• Citation: 239 U.S. 459,60 L.Ed. 382,36 S.Ct. 132
• Parties: STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY, Limited, Plff. in Err., v. J. J. BYRNE and Daniel Kaleiki
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

239 U.S. 459

36 S.Ct. 132

60 L.Ed. 382

INTER-ISLAND STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY, Limited, Plff. in Err.,

v J. J. BYRNE and Daniel Kaleiki.

No. 288.

Submitted November 29, 1915.

Decided December 20, 1915.

Mr. Charlcs R. Hemenway and E. W. Sutton for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Frank E. Thompson and John W. Cathcart for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice McReynolds delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant in error Byrne brought suit against Kaleiki in the district court of Honolulu and served the navigation company with a garnishee summons in accordance with the local statute. Answering, the company set up that Kaleiki was hired directly by it (not through a shipping commissioner) as a mate on the 'Claudine,' plying only in the interisland coast trade, and asked a discharge because of the exemption from attachment of seamen's wages by § 4536, Revised Statutes of the United States (Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8325). The trial court held that subsequent legislation excluded seamen engaged in such coast- wise trade from the exemption, and rendered judgment against both Kaleiki and the company. This action was affirmed by the supreme court of the territory of Hawaii (22 Haw. 160), and the cause is here upon writ of error.

By a comprehensive act containing sixty-eight sections, approved June 7, 1872, and entitled, 'An Act to Authorize the Appointment of Shipping Commissioners by the Several Circuit Courts of the United States, to Superintend the Shipping and Discharge of Seamen Engaged in Merchant Ships Belonging to the United States, and for the Further Protection of Seamen,' chap. 322, 17 Stat. at L. 262, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8287. Congress prescribed regulations concerning the employment, wages, treatment, and protection of seamen. Section 6§ reads as follows: 'That no wages due or accruing to any seaman or apprentice shall be subject to attachment or arrestment from any court; and every payment of wages to a seaman or apprentice shall be valid in law, notwithstanding any previous sale or assignment of such wages, or of any attachment, encumbrance, or arrestment thereon; and no assignment or sale of such wages, or of salvage made prior to the accruing thereof, shall bind the party making the same, except such advanced securities as are provided for in this act.' Without material modification in language, this became § 4536 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8325), enacted into law June 22, 1874, with the following limitation—§ 5601 Comp. Stat. 1913, § 10,598): 'The enactment of the said revision is not to affect or repeal any act of Congress passed since the 1st day of December one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, and all acts passed since that date are to have full effect as if passed after the enactment of this revision, and so far as such facts vary from, or conflict with any provision contained in said revision, they are to have effect as subsequent statutes, and as repealing any portion of the revision inconsistent therewith.'

The act of June 9, 1874, chap. 260, 18 Stat. at L. 64, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8291, 'in reference to the operations of the shipping commissioners' act, ap- proved June seventh, eighteen hundred and seventy-two,' provided: 'That none of the provisions of an act entitled 'An Act to Authorize the Appointment of Shipping Commissioners by the Several Circuit Courts of the United States to Superintend the Shipping and Discharge of Seamen Engaged in Merchant Ships Belonging to the United States, and for the Further Protection of Seamen' shall apply to sail or steam vessels engaged in the coastwise trade, except the coastwise trade between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, or in the lake-going trade touching at foreign ports or otherwise, or in the trade between the United States and the British North American possessions, or in any case where the seamen are by custom or agreement entitled to participate in the profits or result of a cruise, or voyage.'

The understanding of Congress concerning the effect of the repealing act of 1874 is indicated by subsequent legislation referred to below.

Section 2 of an act approved June 19, 1886, chap. 421, 24 Stat. at L. 79, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8138, specified that 'shipping commissioners may ship and discharge crews for any vessel engaged in the coastwise trade . . . at the request of the master or owner of such vessel,' etc.

'An Act to Amend the Laws Relative to Shipping Commissioners,' approved August 19, 1890, chap. 801, 26 Stat. at L. 320, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8293, declared that when a crew is shipped by a...