Frederick H. Leggett & Co. v. 500 Cases of Tomatoes

(after stating the facts as above). The single question presented is whether a shipowner, on the happening of a general average loss, may insist as a prerequisite to delivery of cargo on the payment to him of a reasonable estimate of the cargo owner’s average share. This right, if it exists, implies the further right to reject any and every other form of security tendered by the cargo owner.

The argument is based upon the assumption that the shipowner’s maritime lien for general average payable by the cargo is in its nature possessory, and from that word is drawn the conclusion that nothing…