The Watchful
Supreme Court of the United States
Appeal from the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. In that court the schooner Watchful and cargo had been libelled as prize of war, and a decree rendered dismissing the libel, and restoring the property to the claimant. The claimant, one Wallis, to whom the property plainly belonged, was a citizen of Pennsylvania, residing at Philadelphia, and the evidence showed no reason to doubt his loyalty to the Federal government during the recent war.
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Appeal from the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. In that court the schooner Watchful and cargo had been libelled as prize of war, and a decree rendered dismissing the libel, and restoring the property to the claimant. The claimant, one Wallis, to whom the property plainly belonged, was a citizen of Pennsylvania, residing at Philadelphia, and the evidence showed no reason to doubt his loyalty to the Federal government during the recent war. Nor was there any proof of intention to break the blockade or to trade with the enemy. It appeared only that the claimant had sold, in…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Miller
It is very clear that there is no case of prize made out by the evidence. The property, which was undoubtedly Wallis’s, was therefore not enemy property; nor is there any evidence of intention to break the blockade or to trade with the enemy. The case is so destitute of. all the elements of prize that the present libel was properly dismissed.
As to the other ’point more insisted on by the Attorney-General. The record, as it stands, .shows that the vessel cleared for Hamburg, when her destination was certainly Matamoras. That her clearance was probably altered after she was at sea, by writing…
2Cited by6 opinions
- Richmond Railway & Electric Co. v. DickCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 1892
- Stoddard v. NelsonOregon Supreme Court · 1889
- Martin Browne Co. v. MorrisCourt Of Appeals Of Indian Territory · 1897
- The City of MexicoDistrict Court, S.D. Florida · 1886
- United States v. The ItataCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1893
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