United States v. Buckley

31 F. 804, 12 Sawy. 508, 1887 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 253
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedAugust 2, 1887
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 31 F. 804 (United States v. Buckley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Buckley, 31 F. 804, 12 Sawy. 508, 1887 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 253 (N.D. Cal. 1887).

Opinion

Hoffman, J.

The information in this case charges the defendants with desertion from the steam-ship Queen of the Pacific, a coasting vessel plying between this port and San Diego, a port in this state. The offense is made punishable by section 51 of the act of June 7,1872, and also by section 4596, Rev. St.

[805]*805■The information is demurred to, on the ground that those provisions are repealed by the act of June 9, 1874, (18 St. 64.) That act provides “that none of the provisions of the act entitled ‘An act to authorize the appointment of shipping commissioners,’ [giving the title of the act,] approved June7,1872, shall apply to sail or steam vessels .engaged in the, ‘coastwise trade,’ except the coastwise trade between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts,” etc. The remaining provisions are somewhat obscure; but they need not here be considered, for it is not disputed that the ves-, sel from which the men are alleged to have deserted was engaged in the coastwise trade between ports of this state.

It is contended on the part of the prosecution— First, that the provisions of title 53, Rev. St., are in force, unaffected by the act of June 9, 1874; and, second, that that act only affects such provisions of the original act of June 7,1872, (re-enacted in tillo 53, Rev. St.,) as apply dis-; tinctly to vessels, and that the other provisions relating to masters and owners, and their duties, to seamen and apprentices, and their discipline, etc., are unaffected by it. These contentions will be considered in their inverse order.

1. Does the act of 1874 repeal all the provisions of the act of 1872, or only those relating to vessels eo nomine? In determining this question, it is proper to advert for a moment to the previous legislation on the subject.

One of the principal objects of the act of 1872, as indicated by its title, was to provide for the shipment of seamen before shipping commissioners, a class of officers created by the act. Section 12 provides that the master of every ship bound from a port in the United States to any foreign, port, or of any ship of the burden of 75 tons or upward, bound from a-port on the Atlantic to a port of the Pacific, shall, before she proceeds on such voyage, make an agreement, etc. The first proviso to this section allows the master to perform the duties of shipping commissioner in respect to his own crew in any customs district, when no shipping commissioner has boon appointed. The second proviso exempts from the requirements of the section masters of vessels, where the seamen are entitled to participate in the results or profits of the cruise or voyage, and masters of coastwise and lake-going vessels that touch at foreign ports. Substantially the same provision is contained in the proviso to section 8. The act of 1873 further exempted from the operation of the twelfth section of the original act masters of vessels engaged, in trade between the United States and British .North American ports, or the West India islands, or the republic of Mexico. Such was the state of the law prior to the passage of the act of June 9, 1874. As to the effect of this legislation, some questions present themselves. Section 12 of the original act contains minute specifications as to the contents of the agreement to bo entered into, before the shipping commissioner, between the master and the crew. A form of agreement is prescribed, to be followed as near as may bo, and containing eight separate particulars set forth in the section. Tho first proviso authorizes the master, in districts where there is no shipping commissioner, to himself [806]*806perform, the duties of shipping commissioner. The second proviso declares that the section shall not apply to masters of coastwise or lake-going vessels that touch at foreign ports. The eighth section provides that “nothing in this act shall he so construed as to prevent the owner, consignee, or master of any ship, except such as are described in section 12 of this act, from performing himself, so far as the said ships are concerned, the duties of shipping commissioner under this act.” The act of 1873 further extended the exemption from the operation of section 12 to masters of vessels engaged in trade between the United States and the British North American possessions, the West India islands, and the republic of 7,léxico.

Was it the effect of this legislation to exempt the masters of the excepted vessels from the operation of all the provisions of the twelfth section of the act of 1872, or merely, as might be inferred from the first proviso, and the language of section 8, to allow them to perform themselves the duties of the shipping commissioner? If the first view be •adopted, I find no provision in the original act, or the amendments to it, which requires him to enter into any agreement whatever in writing ■with the seamen shipped on the excepted vessels, either as to time of service, nature and probable duration of the voyage, rate of 'wages, capacity in which they are to serve, scale of provisions to be served, etc.,— stipulations which would seem to be as essential to the protection of seamen on the excepted, as on the foreign, voyages. If the other view bo taken, the master is relieved from the necessity of going before the commissioner with his crew to acknowledge the execution of the agreement, but he is nevertheless required to make it in writing, and containing all the particulars mentioned in section 12.

I recur to the question presented in this case. We have seen that the provisions in the act of 1872, and the amendment of the act of 1873, relate exclusively to the provisions of section 12 of the original act. But the act of June 9, 1874, provides that none of the provisions of the act of 1872 shall apply to vessels engaged in the coastwise trade, etc. It is, as before stated, contended that the provisions abrogated are only those relating eo nomine to vessels. It is to be observed that the act does not say, “none of the provisions [of the act of 1872] relating to vessels shall apply to coastwise vessels,” etc.; but it uses the unrestricted and comprehensive expression, “none of the provisions of the act shall apply to such vessels.” It could not have been intended merely to relieve the specified vessels and their masters from the operation of the twelfth section of the act of 1872, for they were already excepted by the terms of the act, and by the provisions of the act of 1873. The act was intended to have a broader and more comprehensive application.

In support of the, interpretation of the act of 1874, which restricts its application to those provisions of the act of 1872 relating to vessels, the counsel for the prosecution had attempted to show that the provisions of the act are susceptible of classification, and may be resolved into provisions relating to the men and their duties, to the master and owners, and to the vessels themselves. But this classification seems to me im«[807]*807practicable, or founded on accidental phraseology used, rather than on any intention to discriminate between the different subjects of the enactment. Section 14 provides that, if any master, mate, or other officer shah knowingly receive on board of any merchant ship any seaman who shall have been engaged or supplied contrary to the provisions of this act, the ship shall incur a penalty not exceeding $200. This provision relates to seamen and their shipment. It also relates to the master and officers, and denounces an offense committed, the penalty for which is imposed on the ship.

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Bluebook (online)
31 F. 804, 12 Sawy. 508, 1887 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-buckley-cand-1887.