Kennedy v. Eilau
New York Court of Common Pleas
Appeal from a judgment of the Fifth District Court. The plaintiff, James Kennedy, was master of the steamship “ City of Baltimore,” one of the vessels of the “Liverpool, New York & Philadelphia Steamship Company,” and brought the action as master of the vessel, for freight on merchandise, carried in that vessel from a foreign port, consigned to the defendants, David Eilau and another.
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Appeal from a judgment of the Fifth District Court. The plaintiff, James Kennedy, was master of the steamship “ City of Baltimore,” one of the vessels of the “Liverpool, New York & Philadelphia Steamship Company,” and brought the action as master of the vessel, for freight on merchandise, carried in that vessel from a foreign port, consigned to the defendants, David Eilau and another. The plaintiff, on the trial, proved that he was master of the vessel, the carriage by the vessel, the reception of the goods by the defendants under the bill of lading, and the amount of freight due. The…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.*-—Daly, F. J.
The judge below dismissed the case, upon the ground that the master, not being the owner of the vessel, could not maintain an action in his own name to recover for the freight. In this he erred.
In Clarkson a. Edes (4 Cow., 470), Justice Woodworth stated that an action for the freight may be sustained in the name of the master on the bills of lading for the benefit of the owners and possessors of the vessel.
In Shields a. Davis (6 Taunt., 65), the objection was taken that the master who brought an action in his own name to recover for freight, was not the owner of the…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Van Bokkelin v. IngersollCourt for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors · 1830
- Ingersoll v. Van BokkelinNew York Supreme Court · 1827
- Clarkson v. EdesNew York Supreme Court · 1825
- White v. ChouteauNew York Supreme Court · 1850
- American Insurance v. CosterNew York Court of Chancery · 1831