Butler v. . Murray
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from the Superior Court of the city of New York. This action-was commenced Tby N. Rogers' & Co., against D. Golden Murray and others, owners of.the schooner Pedee, to recover the value of a quantity of hides shipped on board the Pedee, at Aspinwall, consigned to the plaintiffs at New York.
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Appeal from the Superior Court of the city of New York. This action-was commenced Tby N. Rogers' & Co., against D. Golden Murray and others, owners of.the schooner Pedee, to recover the value of a quantity of hides shipped on board the Pedee, at Aspinwall, consigned to the plaintiffs at New York. The defendants set up, that the vessel having been forced to put into the port of Carthagena, in distress, the hides were discovered to be in a perishing condition, and that the master, acting in good faith, and in the exercise of a sound discretion, to prevent further loss, had ordered them to be…
1Opinion of the CourtMullin, J.
The master of a vessel is for most purposes the agent of the owners of the ship and cargo; but that agency does not extend to a sale of either, unless there is a necessity, at the time, for so doing. (Abbott on Shipping, 365 et seq. in notes.)
The degree of the necessity which must be shown to have existed in order to justify a sale of ship or cargo has been differently stated by different judges and writers on maritime law. In 1st Parsons on Cont. 66, it is said: “He (the master) may sell the property entrusted to him in a case of extreme necessity, and in the exercise of a sound discretion.…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- The New England Insurance Company v. the Sarah AnnSupreme Court of the United States · 1839
3Cited by6 opinions
- Stephenson v. Piscataqua Fire & Marine InsuranceSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1866
- McCready v. . ThornNew York Court of Appeals · 1873
- McCall v. . Sun Mutual Ins. Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1876
- Astsrup v. LewyDistrict Court, S.D. New York · 1884
- Dreyfuss v. Pennsylvania RailroadAppellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York · 1915
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