Agros Corp. v. United States

LEARNED HAND, District Judge.

I think that it is impossible to read the Suits in Admiralty Act (March 9, 1920) without concluding that Congress intended to provide for suits which are in the nature of in personam as well as in rem. In the' first place, although the statute is drawn by persons entirely familiar with the usages and terms of the admiralty, section 2 (Comp. St, Ann. Supp. 1923, § 1251%*), which confers the right, speaks, not of a libel in rem, which was the natural phrase if the respondent be right, but of “a proceeding in admiralty.” Whenever such a proceeding “could be…