The Steamship Styria v. James Morgan the Steamship Styria v. Schuyler Parsons the Steamship Styria v. Alfred Malcolmson the Steamship Styria v. John Munroe
| Decision Date | 19 May 1902 |
| Docket Number | No. 74,No. 73,Nos. 72-75,No. 72,No. 75,72,73,74,75,s. 72-75 |
| Parties | THE STEAMSHIP STYRIA, Antonio G. Scopinich, Claimant, Petitioner , v. JAMES L. MORGAN et al. THE STEAMSHIP STYRIA, Antonio G. Scopinich, Claimant, Petitioner , v. SCHUYLER L. PARSONS. THE STEAMSHIP STYRIA, Antonio G. Scopinich, Claimant, Petitioner , v. ALFRED S. MALCOLMSON. THE STEAMSHIP STYRIA, Antonio G. Scopinich, Claimant, Petitioner , v. JOHN MUNROE et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Four libels in admiralty were filed in the district court of the United States for the southern district of New York against the steamship Styria, to recover damages for the failure duly to d1t02eliver at New York lifferent lots of sulphur, owned by the libellants, shipped on board the Styria at Port Empedocle, the port of the town of Girgenti, in Sicily, April 21-24, 1898, and shortly afterwards relanded at the port of shipment because it had become contraband of war. The facts were substantially undisputed, and were as follows:
The Styria was an Austrian steamship, owned by the Austro-Americana Steamship Company, and Burrill & Sons of Glasgow were her managing agents. She sailed April 16, 1898, with some cargo, from Trieste via Sicilian ports for New York, and on April 21 reached Port Empedocle, Sicily, her second loading port. Her master began at once to load on board the sulphur in question, and by April 24 it was all on board, bills of lading therefor (containing the provisions copied in the margin ) had been signed, and the vessel cleared from the custom-house, and ready to proceed on her voyage to Messina and Palermo for a cargo of fruit, and thence to New York.
In the meantime, unknown to the master, war had broken out between the United States and Spain. On April 20, Congress passed, and the President approved, the joint resolution recognizing the freedom and independence of Cuba, and demanding that the government of Spain relinquish its authority in the island and withdraw its land and naval forces. 30 Stat. at L. 738. On the same day the Spanish minister in Washington demanded and received his passports. On April 21, the Amer-
To be delivered at the port of New York, 'restraints of princes and rulers or people' and other specified perils 'excepted; with liberty (in event of steamer putting back to this, or into any other port, or otherwise being prevented from any cause from commencing or proceeding in the ordinary course of her voyage) to ship or transship the goods by any other steamer.'
'In case of blockade or interdict of the port of discharge, or if, without such blockade or interdict, the master shall consider it unsafe, for any reason, to enter or discharge cargo there, he is to have option of landing the goods at any other port which he may consider safe, at shipper's risk and expense, and on the goods being placed in charge of any mercantile agent or of British consul, and a letter being put into the postoffice, addressed to the shipper and consignee, if named, stating the landing and with whom deposited, the goods to be at the shipper's risk and expense, and the master and owners discharged from all responsibility.' ican minister at Madrid was informed that the diplomatic relations between the two governments were broken off, and he left that same day. On April 22, the first overt act of war, the capture of the Spanish merchant steamship, the Buena Ventura, was committed. The Buena Ventura, 175 U. S. 384, sub nom. The Buena Ventura v. United States, 44 L. ed. 206, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 148. On April 25, Congress passed an act declaring that war had existed since April 21. 30 Stat. at L. 364, chap. 189. On April 23, the Queen Regent of Spain issued a decree announcing the existence of war with the United States; authorizing the Royal Navy, 'in order to capture the enemy's ships, to confiscate the enemy's merchandise under their own flag, and contraband of war under any flag,' to exercise the right of search on the high seas and in the territorial waters of the enemy; including, under the denomination of contraband, 'powder, sulphur, saltpetre, dynamite, and every kind of explosive;' and charging the Minister of State and the Minister of Marine with the fulfilment of this decree.
On April 23, the master of the Styria received a telegram from Burrill & Sons, her managing agents, directing him not to sail until further orders; and on April 25 another telegram directing him 'to discharge whole cargo as quickly as possible.' The master had by this time learned that war existed, and that sulphur was contraband. He knew that his course would take him within a few miles of the Spanish coast, in order to sight the lighthouses; and he had seen in an Italian newspaper that Spanish men-of-war were looking for contraband goods, and that a sulphur ship had been taken. In obedience to the instructions from the managing agents, as well as because he saw in the newspapers that the sulphur was contraband of war and he considered it unsafe to carry it, the master began to reland the sulphur at Port Empedocle on April 27, and had it all unloaded and warehoused by May 7. At the beginning of the unloading on April 27, he gave notice in writing to the shippers, and to the consignees named in the bills of lading, that 'on finding risky my passage to New York with the actual sulphur cargo, for facts of war,' he was discharging the cargo for the account and risk of the shippers, 'under care of the mercantile agent, Mr. William Peirce, depositing the same in the warehouses of Mr. Zenobia Urso here, and, if these are not sufficient, in the warehouses of the British consulate, faculty which I have in force in the bills of lading.' On the same day he gave notice in writing to the Austrian consul at Girgenti 'that, by order of the representative of my owners, for facts of war,' he was discharging and warehouseing the sulphur from the Styria, for whom it might concern; and also gave notice in writing, through the Austrian consul, to the director general of the customs at Girgenti, that, having loaded the sulphur on the Styria, 'and sulphur being declared contraband of war, war actually existing between Spain and the United States of America, in behalf of the present laws, I deem it in the interest of all whom it might concern to discharge the whole sulphur here on receiving the necessary permit from the customs;' and asking that duties might be remitted on reshipment. On April 30 and May 2, the shippers of the sulphur protested against the unloading; and on May 3 and 5, respectively, the master replied that he, 'in discharging the goods, acted as was his right, and in the best interest of the goods, which is confirmed by the fact, published in the papers, and discussed in the Italian Parliament, that sulphur had been declared contaband of war by one of the belligerent powers.' And at the conclusion of the unloading, on May 7, the master gave notice to the shippers that, as soon as they paid the expense incurred on their account, the sulphur would be delivered to them; and to the consignees that the sulphur was lying in the warehouses at Port Empedocle, at the risk and expense of whom it might concern.
The exportation of sulphur is one of the principal industries of the island of Sicily, and immediately after the declaration of war Sicilian merchants urged the Italian government to request Spain to exempt it from the list of contraband. The Giornale di Sicila, a newspaper of Palermo, each issue of which had a double date, and was read by the master of the Styria on the day of its publication, contained, according to the translations in the record, the following information on the subject: On April 24-25, 1898, it was stated that the merchants of Messina had requested their deputy in the Italian Parliament to urge the government to induce Spain to exclude sulphur from being considered contraband of war; and that the deputy had been assured that the Minister for Foreign Affairs would telegraph to the Italian ambassador in Madrid to obtain what was required from the Spanish authorities. On April 26-27, it was stated that Spain included sulphur in the list of contraband of war, and that the Italian Council of Ministers had decided to induce Spain to revoke its decision. On April 27-28, it was stated that an Italian deputy had asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Parliament whether sulphur had been excluded from the list of contraband of war. On April 29-30, it was stated that the Spanish government had not yet pronounced itself upon the Italian demand to exclude sulphur from the list of contraband of war; that the Italian ambassador had been promised an immediate decision; that the Spanish Minister of Marine seemed decidedly adverse to the demand; but that it was hoped it would be conceded. The paper of May 1-2 contained, under date of May 1, from an anonymous correspondent at Rome, these statements: The Official Gazette will publish the decision regarding sulphur. Meantime the Spanish government has already ordered the commanders of its ships to allow sulphur to pass free.' The paper of May 3-4 contained, under date of May 3, from its Roman correspondent, this statement: ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Carlson v. Landon Butterfield v. Zydok
...fact or set of facts. It means rather a just and proper decision in view of all the attending circumstances. The Styria v. Morgan, 186 U.S. 1, 9, 22 S.Ct. 731 (734), 46 L.Ed. 1027. There are many circumstances which involve decision.' 187 F.2d 802, 803. The Court of Appeals concluded: 'We t......
-
Kennedy v. Cardwell
...discretion is a somewhat nebulous standard: the term `discretion\' denotes the absence of a hard and fast rule. The Styria v. Morgan, 186 U.S. 1, 9, 22 S.Ct. 731, 46 L.Ed. 1027. When invoked as a guide to judicial action, it means a sound discretion, that is to say, a discretion exercised n......
-
Miller v. Poretsky
...216, 223, 53 S.Ct. 154, 77 L.Ed. 266 (1932); Langnes v. Green, 282 U.S. 531, 51 S.Ct. 243, 75 L.Ed. 520 (1931); The Styria, 186 U.S. 1, 9, 22 S.Ct. 731, 46 L.Ed. 1027 (1902); Poske v. Mergl, 169 Ohio St. 70, 157 N.E.2d 344 (1959). We also concur in Judge Robinson's separate opinion which fu......
-
Commonwealth v. Gallo
...520, decided February 24, 1931: ‘The term ‘discretion’ denotes the absence of a hard and fast rule. The Styria, Scopinich, Claimant v. Morgan, 186 U. S. 1, 9, 22 S. Ct. 731, 46 L. Ed. 1027. When invoked as a guide to judicial action, it means a sound discretion, that is to say, a discretion......
-
Risk Of War And The Shipping Industry
...may help explain the test used by the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court articulated the "reasoned judgment" rule in The Styria v. Morgan, 186 U.S. 1, (1902). In that case, upon learning that sulphur was considered a contraband article of war, the carrier discharged a cargo of sulphur that was ......