The Sarah E. Kennedy

• Decision Date: 07 November 1885
• Citation: 25 F. 569
• Parties: THE SARAH E. KENNEDY. v. THE SARAH E. KENNEDY. McCARTHY and others
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

25 F. 569

THE SARAH E. KENNEDY.

McCARTHY and others v. THE SARAH E. KENNEDY.

United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

November 7, 1885

Bedle Muirheid & McGee, for libelants.

Owen &amp Gray, for respondent.

NIXON J.

This case comes before the court on a question of jurisdiction. A number of libels for seamen's wages having been filed against the brig Sarah E. Kennedy, a monition was issued and placed in the hands of the marshal, who boarded the vessel while she was lying at anchor and afloat on the Hudson river between Jersey City and Manhattan island, several hundred feet east of the Morris-street pier of Jersey City, and on the westerly side of the middle of said river.

The respondents claim that the place of said seizure was outside of the admirality jurisdiction of this court, and that the libels should be dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

Since the adoption of the federal constitution it seems to have been the policy of congress to make the jurisdiction of the district courts of the United States co-extensive with the limits and boundaries of the states. Thus, the second section of the judiciary act of 1789 constituted the state of New Jersey one federal district, and the state of New York another. And although the latter state, in consequence of its extent and large growth in population, has since been subdivided into three districts,-- the northern, southern and eastern,-- the jurisdiction of each is expressly limited to designated counties of that state, and the waters thereof. See sections 531, 541, 542, Rev. St. U.S. No authority is found in any act of congress for the courts of the district in one state to exercise jurisdiction over the territory of another.

Before the revolution, and running far back into the colonial times, there had been a dispute between New York and New Jersey as to the true boundary line of the respective states. The territory of both states was originally embraced within the patent or grant of March 12, 1664, from Charles II. to his brother, the Duke of York. On the twenty-fourth of June, following, the latter conveyed to Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret the land which now constitutes the state of New Jersey, being described in said conveyance as 'all that tract of land adjacent to New England, and lying and being to the westward of Long island and Manhattan island, and bounded on the east, part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river; and hath upon the west, Delaware bay or river, and extendeth southward to the main ocean as far as Cape May, at the mouth of Delaware bay; and to the northward as far as the northermost branch of the said bay or river of Delaware, which is in 41 deg. 40 min. of latitude, and crosseth over thence in a straight line to Hudson's river, in 41 deg. of latitude. ' From that time onward, the people of the state of New Jersey have claimed that it was entitled to the exclusive jurisdiction and property of and over the waters of Hudson river and the bay of New York, to the middle of the river and to the channel of the bay, from 41 deg. north latitude to the said bay. The people of New York, on the other hand, asserted the right of the state to jurisdiction and property over the said river and bay, to the low-water mark on the western shore.

It is not necessary here to express an opinion which was the better claim, inasmuch as commissioners appointed by the respective states to determine and settle the proper boundary line came to an agreement or compact on the sixteenth of...