Vasse v. Ball

• Decision Date: 01 March 1797
• Citation: 2 Dall. 270,2 U.S. 270,1 L.Ed. 377
• Parties: Vasse v. Ball
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

2 U.S. 270

2 Dall. 270

1 L.Ed. 377

Vasse v. Ball

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

March Term, 1797

This was an action on two Policies of Insurance for 28,000 dollars, upon the brig Salmon, and her cargo (both the property of the plaintiff, an American citizen) from Port-au-Paix to Philadelphia, in which these clauses were inserted: 'It is declared that this assurance is made only against capture of the British, or any of the subjects of Great-Britain.' 'The brig is warranted to be an American bottom; and the cargo of the said brig to be American property.'

On the trial, the following appeared to be the material facts: The brig, having carried a cargo of flour from Philadelphia to Port-au-Paix, under a contract with Mr. Fauchet, the French Minister, was captured and taken into Bermuda, for adjudication, by a British privateer, on her return to Philadelphia. The captain of the brig wrote to the plaintiff, his owner, stating the capture, and declaring the strongest apprehension, that a condemnation would ensue, as the captors had got possession of the receipt for the flour delivered upon the contract with Mr. Fauchet, and he had been compelled at Port-au-Paix to take on board a French Officer and a few soldiers (who were all invalids) with their baggage and some articles of household furniture, in order to bring them for their health to America. The plaintiff communicated the capture to the defendant, and, in explicit terms, represented the case to be a desperate one; but the defendant, with confidence, declared, that, as a new Governor had been recently sent out to Bermuda, there would be a change in the administration of justice; so that if the property was bona fide American, it would certainly be acquitted; and, in that confidence, he agreed to insure the vessel and cargo for a premium of ten per cent. At the time of making this agreement, the captain's letter was not shewn to the defendant; but the evidence raised a strong presumption that it was produced and read to him at a subsequent meeting, before the policies were underwrote. The brig and cargo being libelled in the Vice-Admiralty Court of Bermuda, the libel set forth the following allegations as causes of condemnation: 1st. That the vessel and cargo were French property. 2nd. That the vessel was an American transport in the French service, employed to carry flour and soldiers to and from French ports. 3rd. That the vessel had been employed in carrying dispatches for the French Government. 4th. That the vessel had been employed in trading with the enemies of Great-Britain, supplying them with the means of sustenance and of war. And, 5th. That the port from which the vessel came was in a state of blockade.

The Judge of the Vice-Admiralty pronounced a general decree of condemnation, upon both vessel and cargo, without specifying any particular cause of forfeiture.

Under these circumstances, Ingersoll and Du Ponceau, for the plaintiff, contended that they were entitled to shew, that the brig and cargo, were bona fide American property; that, if so, the warranty had been complied with; and that no other ground alledged in the libel was a just cause of capture and condemnation to discharge the underwriter. It is true, that the ancient cases say, generally, that foreign judgments are conclusive, without distinguishing between the judgments of Courts of Admiralty, and of other Courts; but modern adjudications have more accurately settled, that a foreign judgment shall be deemed prima facie evidence, but, like all other evidence, it is liable to examination. Doug. 6. 4 T. Rep. 493. Bull. N. P. 245. 2 Show. 232. (Leach's Edit. in not.)¹ The sentence may justly be conclusive between those who are parties to it, and must ex necessitate, be conclusive upon the subject to which it immediately applies: but it ought not to be binding on third persons with collateral interests; nor upon objects which it never contemplated. There has been a great fluctuation in the English decisions upon points of commercial law. The insurance of enemy's property has, at one time, been held lawful; but Lord Mansfield's decisions on that point, have been recently over-ruled. Parke 239 (last Edit.) And it is well known, that the English courts of Vice-Admiralty do not decide according to the Law of Nations, but according to the instructions of the Crown. But there is not, in fact, any judicial determination of the English Courts, antecedent to the American revolution, which declares, that the sentence of a Court of Admiralty cannot be examined and controverted between persons who were not parties to it. The case of Bernardi v. Motteux, Doug. 554. occurred since the revolution; it has, therefore, no obligatory influence; and it carries the doctrine, respecting the conclusive character of a sentence in a foreign Court of Admiralty, to an extent so extravagant, that American tribunals should be well convinced of the reason and justice of the position on which it turns, before they voluntarily acquesce in the decision. Besides, this is not a question of English municipal law, in which the judgment of an English Court must be respected as evidence of the law: but it is a question arising on the Law of Nations; and if there is a diversity of opinion in the Courts of different nations, every nation is at liberty to examine the principle. Thus, then, it has been determined in France, that the sentence of a Court of Admiralty is not conclusive in a controversy between the underwriters and the assured. Emerigon (a writer celebrated even in Westminster-Hall) says: 'Il est done certain, que les assureurs repondent de la confiscation injuste prononcee parle Tribunal du lieu ou le navire pris a ete conduit. Les jugemens rendus par les Tribunaux etrangers, ne sont en France d aucun poids contre les Francois, et qu'il faut que la cause y soit de nouveau decidee. D'ou il suit, que le jugement de confiscation prononce par un Tribunal ennemi, n'est ni une preuve que le veritable pour compte ait ete cache, ni un titre que les assureurs puissent alleguer pour se dispenser de payer la perte. Telle est notre jurisprudence.' 1 Emer. 457. 8.² Great Britain, as an underwriting nation, has an obvious interest in maintaining a contrary doctrine; but, as the policy does not apply to the situation of America, the practice ought not to be adopted.

Even, however, if the sentence of a Court of Admiralty were to be considered as conclusive as the strongest of the English cases can justify, the present cause would not be affected; for, it can only be conclusive upon what it appears to have decided; and it is impossible from the present decree to ascertain the ground of condemnation. In that respect, this cause is analogous to the case of Bernardi v. Motteux. Doug. 555; the general warranty being there as forcible, as the additional clause in the policies now controverted. Under every warranty, then, the only question is, what the parties meant? Parke Inf. 410. 392. 3. 4. 5. 492. Ib. 361 (last Edit.) Here, they plainly meant, that, if the property assured was American, the underwriters should be bound to pay. But, it is answered, the libel alledged the property to be French, the condemnation is general, and the decree is conclusive. It must be observed, however, that the libel alledges more; and that the allegations are in direct...