Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/155

 COPE V, VALLETTE DEY-DOCK. 143 �T7as run into by a steam-ship that was about leaving port, and was considerably datnaged and lef t in great danger of sinking. The steam- tugs of libellant and others came and rendered assistance by pumping, whicb saved tke dry-dock, and they were therefore entitled to sal- vage. �Chas. S. Rice and J. R. Beckwith, for libellants and intervenors. �M. M. Cohen, for claimants. �BiLLiNos, D. J. This case bas been heard upon a plea to the jurisdiction. The question submitted is whether the thing libelled is of such a nature or character as to make it subject to a claim for sal- vage in the sense in which that word is used in admiralty. �The subject of this libel is a dry-dock — a floating dock susceptible of elevation or depression in the water by means of pumping the water out or in. Its design and use is to be sunk under a vessel and then to be pumped out so as to become dry, leaving the vessel in a position to be inspecteid and repaired. It is incapable of self -propul- sion, cannot be propelled except when towed, has no capacity to be used for any parpose of navigation, and was permanently moored in the Mississippi river, by means of enormous chains, at a point oppo- site the oity of New Orleans. The libel alleges the dock had been run into, was sinking, and was saved. �The question turns entirely upon the meaning of the expression "admiralty and maritime jurisdiction" in the provision of the consti- tution of the United States (article 2, § 3) which creates the judicial power, and in the ninth section of- the judiciary act of 1789, which •delegates that power to the district courts. �It has been laid down by Chancellor Kent and Justice Story, and is affirmed by the supreme court in Ins. Co, v. Dunham, 11 Wall. 1, and Ex parte Easton, 95 U. S. 68, that this jurisdiction means that jurisdiction which had been and was being exercised in admiralty in this country prier to and at the time of the adoption of the consti- tution, and not the jurisdiction of England nor that of continental Europe. So far as estent of locality is concerned, in the courts of the United States, it comprises the navigable waters of the nation, as well as the high seas. �As to what was included within this jurisdiction, my own opinion is that we can most safely look to the commissions of the judges in ad- miralty before and at the time bf the revolution. A number of these commissions. are given in extenso in Ben. Adm. c. 9. These com- missions show what contracta' are included in that jurisdiction. ��� �