(Download) "Sebra M. Bogart, William J. Wilcox, And Leonard F. Fitch, Libellants and Appellants v. the Steamboat John Jay" by United States Supreme Court # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Sebra M. Bogart, William J. Wilcox, And Leonard F. Fitch, Libellants and Appellants v. the Steamboat John Jay
- Author : United States Supreme Court
- Release Date : January 01, 1854
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 72 KB
Description
We will confine ourselves, in this opinion, to the inquiry, whether or not a court of admiralty has jurisdiction to decree the sale of a ship for an unpaid mortgage, or can, on that account, declare a ship to be the property of the mortgagees, and direct the possession of her to be given to them. The questions of pleading made in the case, and the other points argued, we shall not notice. The conclusion at which we have arrived makes that unnecessary. The libellants were the owners of the steamer John Jay. They sold her to Joseph McMurray for the sum of $6,000; $1,000 in cash, and the residue of $5,000 upon a credit, for which promissory notes were given, payable to their order, in three, six, nine, twelve, fifteen, eighteen, twenty-one, and twenty-four months. On the day of sale, McMurray, the purchaser, executed in a single deed, containing the whole contract between himself and the libellants, a transfer of the boat to the latter as a security for the payment of his notes, with the proviso 'that this instrument is intended to operate only as a mortgage to secure the full and just payment of the eight promissory notes given in consideration of the purchase-money of said vessel or steamboat.' McMurray failed to pay the second note. Upon such failure the libel was filed. The libellants set out the contract; allege that it was to operate as a mortgage to secure the payment of McMurray's notes; state his failure to pay the second note; claim, in the fifth article of their libel, that McMurray's failure to pay had revested them with the title to the boat, and that McMurray's had become forfeited, from his non-compliance (a.) The direction to pay the in the contract of sale. Their prayer is, that they may have a decree for the amount of the unpaid purchase-money, with interest and costs, and that The John Jay and her equipments may be condemned to pay the same. Afterwards, upon their appeal in the circuit court, they moved to amend their libel by inserting the words, 'or that the steamboat John Jay may be decreed to be their property, and the possession be directed to be delivered to them.' To this libel George Logan, by way of answer, put in a claim of ownership of The John Jay, by a bon a fide purchase from McMurray; and he further denies the jurisdiction of the court, upon the ground that the contract between the libellants and McMurray was not maritime; or a case of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. It appears that McMurray had received the possession of the boat; that she had been enrolled at the custom-house in his name; that he first sold one fourth of her to Logan, and afterwards, on the 2d December, executed a bill of sale for the whole of her to Logan, which was recorded in the custom-house; and that thereupon The John Jay was enrolled and licensed in the name of Logan.
 "Sebra M. Bogart, William J. Wilcox, And Leonard F. Fitch, Libellants and Appellants v. the Steamboat John Jay" by United States Supreme Court # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}