United States v. Elliot
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts
An information in the nature of debt was filed by the attorney of the United States against the defendant [George P. Elliot] as owner and master of the American bar-quentinqi Annie E. Elliot, of Boston, to recover penalties for a breach of Rev. St. §| 4569 and 4570, alleging, in the first count, that on the 3d day of May, 1874, said vessel was bound on a voyage from Boston “around the Cape of Good Hope,” to wit, to Batavia, to Java, and that the defendant, as owner,…
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An information in the nature of debt was filed by the attorney of the United States against the defendant [George P. Elliot] as owner and master of the American bar-quentinqi Annie E. Elliot, of Boston, to recover penalties for a breach of Rev. St. §| 4569 and 4570, alleging, in the first count, that on the 3d day of May, 1874, said vessel was bound on a voyage from Boston “around the Cape of Good Hope,” to wit, to Batavia, to Java, and that the defendant, as owner, neglected to provide the lime or lemon juice, as in said statute required, whereby an action had accrued to the United States to…
1Opinion of the Court
LOWELL, Circuit Judge.
It is well settled that when pecuniary penalties are affixed by statute to an act or a neglect, and there is no imprisonment provided for, or other reason to suppose that a mere punishment is intended, and no special remedy is pointed out in the statute, a civil action (formerly always “debt”) will lie for their recovery, although the penalties are for the sole use of the sovereign. Rolle, Abr. 598, pi. 18, 19; Jacob v. U. S. [Case No. 7,157]. When the practice of the courts of the United States first adopted that of the several states, penalties could be so recovered in…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Stilson v. TobeyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1807
- Commonwealth v. StevensMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1818