Two Hundred & Sixteen Loads & Six Hundred & Seventy-Eight Barrels of Fertilizer

88 F. 984, 5 Hughes 310, 1881 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 255

• Court: District Court, E.D. Virginia
• Decided: July 13, 1881
• Status: Published

Opinion

HUGHES, District Judge.

There is no doubt that a cargo may be libeled for freight so long as it is on the vessel or in custody of a wharfinger or warehouseman, holding either actually or constructively for the owner of the vessel. But, when the cargo has been absolutely delivered to the consignee against whom the freight is claimed, the maritime lien is lost, and the jurisdiction of the admiralty court to enforce it is lost with it; for it is settled law that “the lien of a shipowner for freight, being but a right to retain the goods until payment of freight, is inseparably associated with the possession of the goods, and is lost by an unconditional delivery to the consignee.” See the opinion of Chief Justice Taney in Bags of Linseed, 1 Black, 108. The libel must be dismissed at the libelant’s costs; and the clerk may check upon the fund in bank for the costs, and, after deducting these, then in favor of the master for the residue of the sum.