Larsen v. New York Dock Co.

FRANK, Circuit Judge.

In New York Dock Co. v. S. S. Poznan, 274 U.S. 117, 47 S.Ct. 482, 71 L.Ed. 955, the Court held, in effect, that no lien can be obtained against a ship in custodia legis; but it allowed the Dock Company a preferential claim against the proceeds of the ship for wharfage service rendered while the libel proceedings were pending, because the service was furnished as an incident of the court’s administration and had benefited the parties to the proceedings. Such a payment, said the Supreme Court, defrayed an expense which the admiralty court “has permitted for the common…