Thomas Crowell, Garnishee of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company v. John Randell, Jun Richard Shoemaker, Garnishee of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company v. John Randell, Jun

Decision Date01 January 1836
Citation35 U.S. 368,10 Pet. 368,9 L.Ed. 458
PartiesTHOMAS P. CROWELL, GARNISHEE OF THE CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE CANAL COMPANY v. JOHN RANDELL, JUN. RICHARD SHOEMAKER, GARNISHEE OF THE CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE CANAL COMPANY v. JOHN RANDELL, JUN
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

IN error to the superior court of the state of Delaware.

In 1829, John Randell, Junior, the defendant in error, instituted an action of covenant against the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, in the superior court of the state of Delaware, on certain articles of agreement entered into between him and the defendants, relative to the making of a canal to unite the waters of the river Delaware with those of the Chesapeake Bay, and to pass through the states of Delaware and Maryland. The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company were incorporated by laws passed by the states of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland; and the board of directors of the company was established in the city of Philadelphia.

The declaration alleged sundry breaches of covenant on the part of the defendants, and after various pleadings and demurrers, and issues of fact, judgment was rendered for the plaintiff on some of the demurrers, and an inquisition of damages awarded. The parties went to trial on some of the issues of fact, which were found for the plaintiff; and on the 25th day of January 1834, the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for 229,535 dollars 79 cents, upon which a judgment was entered by the court.

Upon this judgment, the plaintiff, on the 6th of June 1834, issued a writ of attachment, under the laws of the state of Delaware, for the collection of part of the amount of the same, and of the costs; which was served on Thomas P. Crowell as the garnishee of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company. The same proceedings took place in the case of Richard Shoemaker.

The defendants repectively appeared, and pleaded that they had no goods or effects, rights or credits of the company in their hands at the time of the attachments, or at any time after. The cases came on for trial on these pleas and issues, according to the laws of Delaware; and the parties agreed to a statement of facts.

In the suit against Thomas P. Crowell, the agreed facts were as follows:

'John Randell, Jun. recovered a verdict of a jury in the said court against the said company, on the 25th day of January 1834, and then and there obtained judgment in the said court against the said company for damages and costs of suit; amounting together to the sum of 229,535 dollars 79 cents. The pleadings, record and proceedings in the said suit, from the declaration to the judgment inclusive, are referred to, and form a part of this case.

'A writ of attachment was issued upon said judgment for the collection of the damages and costs aforesaid, on the 6th day of June, A. D. 1834, returnable to the November term of the same year. The said writ was served upon the said Thomas P. Crowell, in the county aforesaid, at the Delaware tide lock, who was summoned by the sheriff of Newcastle county, as garnishee of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, on the 15th day of June 1834. At the same time the said Thomas P. Crowell was arrested by virtue of the above mentioned capias, being No. 34 to November term of said court, A. D. 1834, at which time and place the said defendant (the said Thomas P. Crowell, to wit) having appeared and given bail, and being put to plead at the election of the said plaintiff under the said act of assembly, pleaded that he had no goods, chattels, rights, credits or effects of the said the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company in his hands, custody or possession at the time of the attachment laid, or at any time after. On this plea the plaintiff hath joined issue, and this is the question now submitted to the court for their decision.

'On the 28th day of January, A. D. 1834, a resolution was passed by the board of directors of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, in the following words, that is to say:

'Resolved, That hereafter no tolls be collected on the line of the canal on any vessel, cargo or other article passing through the canal, until the said vessel, cargo or other article on which the said tolls may be levied or charged, shall have entered the basin at the western end of the canal; excepting only such vessels, cargo or other article as may not pass through the canal to the said basin.'- 'This resolution has never been printed by the said company, nor hath any notice whatever thereof been given to the said John Randell, Jun., until this time. It is admitted that the said resolution was adopted for the purpose of preventing the said John Randell, Jun., from attaching the tolls of the said company by virtue of the said judgment; or otherwise availing himself of the jurisdiction of the courts of the state of Delaware, for the collection of his said judgment.

'The defendant at the time of the service of the said writ of attachment and capias upon him was, hath ever since been, and still continues to be the master of the schooner Hiram; the said schooner being in his hands and possession during that time as the master of the same, and owner of the said schooner. The said vessel passed through the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, with a cargo from Philadelphia to Richmond, on the 16th day of June, A. D. 1834. The amount of tolls on the several cargoes of the said schooner damanded for passage through the said canal between the 16th day of June, and the return day of the said writ, was 96 dollars and 28 cents, lawful money of the United States of America, and was paid in the city of Philadelphia, to S. Griffiths Fisher, an officer appointed by the said president and directors of the said the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, to receive and collect tolls at their office in the city of Philadelphia, by a certain Joseph Hand, the freighter of the said schooner; after service of said attachment and capias, and after the said vessel had passed through the canal as aforesaid, but before the return of the said writs.

'The said attachment and capias were served upon the said defendant in Newcastle county, at the time of his offering to pass through the said canal at the Delaware tide lock, with the said vessel and cargo, and previous to the vessel passing through the same, to wit, on the 15th day of June, A. D. 1834. The said tide lock was, when the said canal was opened for navigation on the 17th of October, A. D. 1829, established by the president and directors of the said company, as a place for the receipt of tolls in the said canal; and a collector of tolls has always been appointed to reside at that place; and a certain John Wilson was, at the time of issuing said attachment, and has ever since been such collector at said tide lock.

'The printed paper hereunto annexed, marked with the letter A is a true copy of the regulations to be observed by vessels navigating the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, adopted by the board of directors of the said company, with the rates of toll for navigating the said canal, the same having been signed by the president and secretary of the said company, and published by order of the president and directors thereof; and it is agreed shall be taken as a part of the case: except so far as they had been altered by the resolution of the 28th of January above set forth.'

[The material regulations in the paper A, established the 4th of February 1833, were the follwing:

1. No vessel shall enter the canal without first coming to anchor, or making fast to the piers at least one hundred feet from the outer locks.

2. Masters of vessels shall, before entering the first lock, present to the collector a manifest of cargo, so arranged as to enable him readily to calculate their tolls. And in order to guard against frauds, the collectors are authorized to require the cargo to be landed for examination, if they shall see cause to suspect the correctness of the manifest.

5. The tolls shall always be paid at the first lock passed by a vessel; and upon payment thereof, the master shall receive a pass bill, on which shall be noted the amount of tolls paid, and the precise time of entering.

7. If any vessel shall pass through the canal without fully and honestly paying the prescribed tolls, either of the collectors is authorized by law 'to seize such vessel, wherever found, and sell the same at auction for ready money; which, so far as is necessary, shall be applied towards paying said tolls, and all expenses of seizure and sale.' And to enforce the penalties.

21. The officers and agents of the company are fully authorized by law to enforce obedience to the foregoing regulations; and they are required so to do.

22. No person is allowed to interfere with the agents or officers of the company in the performance of their duties on the canal. Should reasonable ground of complaint occur against such officers or agents, either by unnecessary delays or improper conduct, it will be immediately redressed, on information being lodged at either of the offices of the company.]

'It is further agreed, that the sloop Robert and James, the defendant being then and there the master, and having the direction thereof, passed through the Chesapeake and Delaware canal with a cargo from Port Deposit to Philadelphia, on the 18th of June 1834, and three several times afterwards, to wit, on the 26th day of June 1834, on the 16th day of October 1834, and on the 5th day of November 1834, between that day and the return day of the said writ of attachment. Copies of the pass bills given to the said defendant on these occasions, were annexed.

'The amount of tolls on the several cargoes of the said sloop, demanded for passage through the said canal, by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, at their lock, at the western end of the canal, in the state of Maryland, and there paid by the said Thomas P. Crowell, master of the said sloop, between the said 18th of June and the return day of...

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