The City of Mexico
District Court, S.D. Florida
Heard upon two libels, the one in prize, the other for forfeiture for violation of section 5283, Rev. St. The United States cannot be required to elect one proceeding, and abandon the other. The vessel, if a prize, belongs half to the captors, and half to the United States. If forfeited under section 5283, the informers have a right to a moiety.
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Heard upon two libels, the one in prize, the other for forfeiture for violation of section 5283, Rev. St. The United States cannot be required to elect one proceeding, and abandon the other. The vessel, if a prize, belongs half to the captors, and half to the United States. If forfeited under section 5283, the informers have a right to a moiety. Both captors and informers may claim, therefore, to have the question of prize or forfeiture determined; and the government cannot, by electing one procedure, bar the right of those claiming under the other. If any one proceeding (say in prize) were…
1Opinion of the CourtLocke, J.
The only ground upon which a libel for prize can be sustained is that of a state of war. .Prize only relates to or is connected with such a state or condition. A vessel captured for engaging in piratical aggression becomes a prize on account of the state of universal war presumed to have been declared by a pirate against commerce and human kind at large, which requires no reciprocal declaration from any nation. Whether piracy is considered as a name applied only to indiscriminate plundering and robbery, either upon the high seas or upon the coasts where the high seas are used as the basis of…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- United States v. QuincySupreme Court of the United States · 1832
- United States v. WeedSupreme Court of the United States · 1867
- The WatchfulSupreme Court of the United States · 1868
3Cited by5 opinions
- Alan Bauer v. Mavi MarmaraCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 2014
- International Dairy Engineering Co. v. American Home Assurance Co.District Court, N.D. California · 1970
- Francisco Martin v. One Bronze RodCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2014
- United States v. The LauradaDistrict Court, D. Delaware · 1898
- United States v. The Three FriendsDistrict Court, S.D. Florida · 1897