The Amy Warwick

1 F. Cas. 799, 24 Law Rep. 335
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedApril 15, 1862
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1 F. Cas. 799 (The Amy Warwick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Amy Warwick, 1 F. Cas. 799, 24 Law Rep. 335 (D. Mass. 1862).

Opinion

SPRAGUE, District Judge.

This vessel, with a cargo of coffee, of the value of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, sailed from Rio Janeiro, on the 29th day of May last, bound for Hampton Roads; and, on the 10th day of July, was captured by the United States ship-of-war Quaker City, and sent into this district for adjudication. A libel has been filed against both vessel and cargo, as prize; and this hearing is upon the preparatory evidence, and the public acts of the United States and of the rebel states. ■ Condemnation is asked on the ground of enemy’s property. A claim to the greater part of the cargo has been presented in behalf of Messrs. Phipps & Co., British subjects resident in Rio Janeiro; but their title is disputed by the captors. Pour hundred bags of the coffee have been claimed by Edmond, Davenport & Co., of Richmond, Va., and there is no doubt of their exclusive ownership. The question arising upon this claim of Edmond, Davenport & Co., will be first considered; because, if their part of the cargo be not liable to condemnation, the inquiry as to the ownership of the residue will be immaterial. This claim was filed on the 9th of August last by agents residing in New York. The claimants are therein described to be Robert Edmond, Isaac Davenport, Jr., and James Blair, merchants, copartners, residing and doing business in Richmond in the state of Virginia, under the firm name of Edmond, Davenport & Co. There is no evidence that they ever had any other residence or place of business. Is their part of the cargo liable to condemnation as enemy’s property? That is the question.

In war, each belligerent may seize and confiscate all the property of the other, where-ever found; and this right extends to the property, found at sea, of all persons permanently resident in the enemy’s country. Property of private persons found- by a nation within its own territory, on the breaking out of hostilities, is not usually confiscated by civilized nations, in modem times. The sovereign may, indeed, seize and appropriate it; but this being contrary to the general usage, it is not to be presumed that the sovereign wills it; and the courts, therefore, will not condemn such property without an express injunction to do so, which, in this country, must be by an act of congress. Brown v. U. S., 8 Cranch, [12 U. S.] 110. Very different are the public law and usages as to enemy’s property found on the ocean, which is, by all nations, seized and condemned as lawful prize. In many countries, there are permanent prize tribunals, which, on the breaking out of a war, take cognizance of captures on the ocean, and this by virtue of their general jurisdiction, and without any special authority being imparted for the occasion. Such are the district courts of the United States. The mere creation by congress of a permanent prize court, would, it is believed, invest it with the jurisdiction and authority usually appertaining to such tribunals by the law and practice of nations. It is unnecessary, however, to dwell on this view, because there are several acts of congress relative to captures on the sea. These acts do not, in terms, confer upon the court the power to adjudicate cases of prize, but they assume and recognize the existence of that power, and regulate its exercise. Thus, the statute of 1800, c. 33, (2 Stat. 45,) makes it the duty of the commander of a vessel who shall capture or seize any vessel as a prize, to send all the papers found on board to the judge of the district to which the prize is sent. The same statute further provides that no person in the navy shall take from any vessel, seized as a prize, any property “before the same shall be adjudged lawful prize-by a competent court,” but “the whole shah be brought in, and judgment passed thereon.” The same statute, and the acts of 1S16, c. 56, (3 Stat. 287,) and of 1849, & 103, (9 Stat. 374,) provide for the disposition of the proceeds of vessels and cargoes which shall be adjudged good prize. These statutes, to some extent, prescribe the mode of procedure, but do not define the jurisdiction of prize courts, nor prescribe the rules of decision. These are to be ascertained by reference to the known powers of such tribunals, and- the principles by which they are governed, in determining what shall be deemed lawful prize under the public law, and the practice of nations.

What shall be deemed enemy’s property is a question of frequent occurrence in prize courts, and on which certain rules and principles are well established. Property captured at sea and owned by persons resident in an enemy’s country is deemed hostile and subject to condemnation, without any evidence as to the individual opinions or predi[803]*803lections of the owner. If he he the subject of a neutral nation, or of the capturing belligerent, and has expressed no disloyal sentiments towards his native country, still his residence in the enemy’s country impresses upon his property engaged in commerce and found upon the ocean a hostile character, and subjects it to condemnation. The Venus, 8 Crunch, [12 U. S.] 253. See, also, The Hoop, 1 C. Rob. Adm. 196, and the cases there collected; and also the cases cited by CadwaEader, X, in The General Parkhill, (Dist. Ct. E. D. Pa., July, 1861,) [Case No. 10,755a.] But itis contended that although this property might be liable to confiscation if the contest were a foreign war, yet that it is otherwise in a rebellion or civil war. This requires attension. As the constitution gives congress the power to declare war, some have thought that without such previous declaration, war, in all its fulness, that is, carrying with it all the incidents and consequences of a war, cannot exist. This is a manifest error. It ignores the fact that there are two parties to a war, and that it may be commenced by either. If a foreign nation should send its fleets and armies to capture our vessels, ravage our coast, and invade our soil, would not this be war, — giving to the United States, as a nation, the position- and rights of a belligerent? Such hostilities would impose upon the president the duty of exerting all his powers, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy, to capture or destroy the enemy; and if, under his instructions, an enemy’s ship should be taken and sent in for adjudication, the prize court must proceed to decide the question of prize upon the principles of public law. How this civil war commenced, every one knows. A traitorous confederation, comprising several organized states, after seizing by force several forts and custom-houses, attacked a fortress of the United States garrisoned with its soldiers, under the sanctity of its flag, and by superior military force compelled those soldiers to surrender, and that flag to be lowered. This was war, — open, flagrant, flagitious war; and it has never ceased to be waged by the same confederates with their utmost ability. Some have thought that because the rebels are traitors, their hostilities cannot be deemed war, in the legal or constitutional sense of that term. But without such war there can be no traitors. Such is tho clear language of the constitution. It declares that treason against the United States “shafl consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” Some have apprehended that if this conflict of arms is to be deemed war, our enemies must have, against the government, aE the immunities of international beEigerents. But this is to overlook the double character which these enemies sustain. They are at the same time belligerents and traitors, and subject to the liabilities of both; while the United States sustains the double character of a beEigerent and sovereign, and has the rights of both. These rights co-exist, and may be exercised at pleasure.

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214 F. Supp. 2d 84 (D. Massachusetts, 2002)

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1 F. Cas. 799, 24 Law Rep. 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-amy-warwick-mad-1862.