Welsh v. Cabot

39 Pa. 342, 1861 Pa. LEXIS 205
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 10, 1861
StatusPublished

This text of 39 Pa. 342 (Welsh v. Cabot) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Welsh v. Cabot, 39 Pa. 342, 1861 Pa. LEXIS 205 (Pa. 1861).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered,

by Strong, J.

It was an undoubted rule of civil law, that he who had repaired or furnished necessary supplies for a ship, or who had lent money to be employed for those purposes, had a lien, and was entitled to payment out of the proceeds of the ship, in preference to other creditors, even without an express contract of hypothecation. The rule still prevails in those tribunals which have adopted the civil law as the basis of their jurisprudence. It has found less favour, however, in England, and it was early denied as applicable to repairs and necessaries furnished in that country. Neither a court of admiralty, nor any other court, recognises an implied lien — a lien without express contract — in favour of a shipwright who has once parted with the possession of a ship, or has worked upon it without [353]*353taking the possession; or in favour of a tradesman who has provided necessaries; or in favour of one who has lent money to make repairs or provide necessaries for an English vessel in any of the ports of England. And in regard to repairs made and supplies furnished in foreign ports, though there are some early cases which adopted the rule of the civil law, the tendency of modern decision has been to hold that there is no lien without an instrument of hypothecation. The question came directly before the King’s Bench, in Hussil v. Christie, 9 East 426, and it was ruled that a master who had made payments abroad for necessary repairs, had no lien on the ship — nothing more than a personal claim against the owners. This case was followed by Smith v. Plumer, 1 Barn. & Ald. 575, which reasserted the doctrine. These were cases, it is true, in which the existence of an implied lien in favour of the master was denied. But there would seem to be even less reason for sustaining a lien in favour of a stranger. He may insist on having the ship pledged to him as a security, and the authority of the master in a foreign port to pledge it, in a ease of necessity, is undoubted. But the master cannot hypothecate to himself. If he may not have an implied lien for repairs, he can have no lien at all. And in Steinbank v. Fenning, 73 E. C. L. R. 50, a case in which the person who advanced the money for repairs was not the master, it was distinctly laid down that no lien for supplies furnished, or for repairs, or for money lent for those purposes, can be acquired, except by express agreement. See also Stainbank v. Shepherd, 76 E. C. L. R. 417.

The American cases, it must be admitted, have inclined more to the doctrine of the civil law. Though they are not harmonious, the majority of them unquestionably recognise the existence of an implied lien upon the ship for repairs made or supplies furnished in a foreign port. Such is the doctrine of the Massachusetts and New York courts, and such has been the ruling of the Supreme Court of the- United States.

But an implied lien does not necessarily arise out of the mere fact that necessary supplies have been furnished for the ship. They must have been furnished on the credit of the ship, and whenever it appears that the ship was not relied on originally, but the personal security of the master or owners, or others was taken, there is no lien. To this the authorities generally agree, and for the best reasons. If such a lien can exist at all, it is an anomaly, not because it exists independently of possession of the ship, but because it is evidenced neither by possession nor by writing, and is created by one who is not the owner. It ought not, therefore, to be regarded with favour. He who claims such an unusual right oiight to show that his money was advanced in reliance upon it. In Carrington v. Pratt, 18 Howard 63, it was said to “ be well settled that the lien implied by the general [354]*354admiralty law may be waived by the express contract of the parties, or by necessary implication; and the implication arises in all cases where the express contract is inconsistent with an intention to rely upon the lien. A familiar instance is, where the money is advanced, or repairs made, looking solely to the personal responsibility of the owner or master. In that case, no credit being given to the vessel as a security, the unpaid lien is necessarily displaced.” In the case of Murray v. Lazarus, 1 Paine 576, it appeared that expenses had been incurred for repairs in a foreign port, and the master of the vessel had drawn a bill for the amount. The court said, " Where an express contract has been entered into for the payment of such expenses, that must be resorted to, and will be considered a waiver of such implied lien, if any existed.” “ If this is to be considered a regular and ordinary bill of exchange, it was a substitute for any lien that might have existed, and must be considered as a relinquishment thereof.” And in 2 Woodbury and Minot 92, Leland v. The ship Medora, Judge Woodbury said: “ “If the evidence show that the ship was not relied on originally, though foreign, but the master or owners, or other security were, the lien does not attach anywhere, or under any form.’

Taking this to be the law, we are of opinion that Thomas P. Rich, as executor of the will of James Christie Rogers, has no lien upon the fund in dispute. For the money advanced, Mr. Rogers took regular bills of exchange, drawn by the master upon Messrs. Diehl & Co., the owners, payable sixty days after sight. There was no special agreement to hypothecate the vessel as a security for the advances, and within less than three months after the bills were drawn, Mr. Rogers took a bottomry bond for other and greater sums advanced for repairs to the same vessel. All this is inconsistent with the allegation that the first advances for which the bills were taken, were made on the credit of the ship, and it shows a waiver of the implied lien which might under the circumstances have existed. In addition to this, the master (to whose report no exception was taken) has found on the evidence, “that the moneys represented by the bills in question were advanced on the personal credit of the master and owners, and not upon any pledge of either vessel; cargo, or freight.” He has also refused to find (though asked to find it), “ that it was the belief of the parties,- whether erroneously or not, when the said bills were drawn and the money advanced, that thereby the holder of the bills had the ship as a security.” The facts already stated, and those found by the •master, negative the existence of any lien in favour of this appellant upon the ship, and his appeal is therefore dismissed.

The claimants to the fund are thus reduced to two, Odenheimer & Cook, and Joseph Cabot, liquidator of the firm of [355]*355Bevan & Humphreys. The facts out of which their respective claims arise may be very briefly yet sufficiently stated. Diehl & Co. were the owners of the ship Venice. On the 4th of March 1852, they mortgaged the ship to Odenheimer & Cook, to secure the payment of $7500 advanced to them on that day. On the same 4th of March 1852, they executed another mortgage on the ship to Bevan & Humphreys, to secure the payment of a debt of $11,000, an ascertained balance of a previous account between the parties. This mortgage was by its terms made posterior in lien to that given to Odenheimer & Cook. On the 29th of August 1853, a charter-party was made between the owners of the ship and a certain Edward T. Smith, by which the latter agreed to furnish a full return cargo from Calcutta to Philadelphia. Subsequently, on the 5th of December 1853, Diehl & Co.

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Bluebook (online)
39 Pa. 342, 1861 Pa. LEXIS 205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welsh-v-cabot-pa-1861.