SALVAGE-RESCUE. apparel, and furniture, (or so much thereof as may be necessary) be condemned, and that the same be sold by the marshal of this district, for the payment of the several recaptors aforesaid, of their respective proportions of the said two hundred and sixtytwo dollars, fifty cents, the sum charged upon the ship. And I finally adjudge, order, and decree, that the respondents, Stephen Dutilh, and John Gourjon, pay to the said recaptors, the several sums of money, above charged upon the goods of them, the said Stephen Dutilh, and John Gourjon, respectively: all which are to be brought into court, to be distributed agreeably to this decree. The costs and charges to be paid by the respondents, in proportion to their respective interests. SEAMEN'S WAGES. Thompson, Jacobson, and others, versus, The ship Catharina, 1795. Laws and principles which govern the maritime courts of the U. States. COURT. THIS was the case of a foreign ship, which came before the court on a claim for wages by her seamen, who by their contracts had engaged to return to the port from which they shipped. During the progress of the cause, the following opinion was given by the district judge. An objection is made, though not very seriously pressed, to my decision on a point, on which our own municipal laws are silent. This objection, however, obliges me to give my sentiments on the question "What laws or rules shall direct or govern the decisions of maritime courts here, in points on which we have no regulations established by our own national legislature?" There are, in most nations concerned in commerce, municipal and local laws relative to contracts with mariners, and other maritime covenants and agreements; though the great leading principles, or outlines, are in all nearly the same. On this account among others, I have avoided taking cognizance, as much as possible, of disputes in which foreign ships and seamen, are concerned. I have in general, left them to settle their differences before their own tribunals. On several occasions, I have seen it part of the contract, that the mariners should SEAMEN'S WAGES. et al. VS. the ship Catharina. not sue in any other than their own courts;-and Thompson I consider such a contract lawful. It would be against law, and void, if it were, that the mariner should not sue in any case; or, that he should not sue in the proper court, or courts of his country. But where the voyage of a foreign ship ended here, or was broken up, and no treaty or compact designated the mode of proceeding, I have permitted suits to be prosecuted. In such cases, I have determined according to the laws of the country to which the ship belonged, if there existed any peculiar variance or difference from those generally prevailing. I have seldom found any very material difference in principle. The laws and customs of Spain, relating to mariners, are more rigid than those of other nations, on similar points. Among other points of variance from other laws, those of Spain grant the master, a lien on the ship, for * Spain cannot be said to have a general national code. She possesses a number of local collections and ordinances, operating in different maritime districts of that extensive kingdom. 1. Their civil law, consists of a great number of particular laws compiled in the form of codes. 2. Each has particular titles. See Azuni, M. L. vol. i, p. 404, 405. 3. The Consolato del Mare, is an adopted code, and governs in the Spanish courts of the Mediterranean. 4. The laws and ordinances of the Consulate of Bilboa, prevail on the Spanish coasts of the Atlantic. 5. The commerce of the Indies is regulated by a particular code, distinct from others. It is governed by, and subject to, the usages of the Contractacion, or Consulate of Seville. See Azuni. of whom, in addition to many more antient writers, I have made much use on those subjects. et al. VS. the ship Catharina. SEAMEN'S WAGES. Thompson his wages. In the present case, the contract was in part, with mariners of the United States; and these seamen were to be discharged in an American port. I apply the authority of this court to the case of our own citizens. If by our own municipal laws, there are rules established, our courts are bound exclusively to follow them. But in cases where no such rules are instituted, we must resort to the regulations of other maritime countries, which have stood the test of time and experience, to direct our judgments, as rules of decision. We ought not to betray so much vanity, as to take it for granted, that we could establish more salutary and useful regulations than those which have, for ages, governed the most commercial and powerful nations, and led them to wealth and greatness. Laws of the Rhodians adopted by the Romans. The laws of the Rhodians were followed and adopted by the Romans, in their most prosperous state of commerce aud power. Those in the celebrated Consolato del mare,* prevailing in the Medi *Il Consolato del Mare. These are the most ancient, celebrated and authentic sea laws, after those of the Rhodians, Greeks, and Romans. Yet Hubner, because he found (as Emerigon alleges), a passage in them contradictory to a favorite dogma, vituperates and depretiates them, to his own disgrace, and not to their disparagement. As a respectable part of the laws of nations, they have always been received in the English courts of admiralty, and those of this country. Their origin is enveloped in obscurity, though attributed to several nations, as well as to the Pisans, to whom a modern author labours to ascribe them. Their influence, value and authority, have been appreciated by claims to their origin, set up by various people of maritime countries. Those laws have prevailed in the countries occupying the coasts of the Mediterranean, and in the neighbouring parts of |