Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/582

 570 FEDERAL REPORTBR. �approved credibility, a court oi law must belisve what he says under oath and under cross-examination, concerning facts which have oc- curred within his own knowledge, in preference to the isola ted min- utes of an ofGcer who was not on oath and was not cross-examined as to any of the explanatory circumstances which may have existed at the time. Yet I am free to admit that these minutes often afford to a court invahiable assistance in correcting extravagances of state- ment on the part of ignorant or unscrupulous witnesses. The values agreed upon for the property saved are : �For the ship, valued in Baltimore, - - - - - $ 36,000 �For the cargo, - 150,000 �For the freight from Galveston to Liverpool, ... 14,000 ���$200,000 ���After the ship was valued repairs were put upon her which cost $13,677.59, �THE LEGAL FEATUBES OF THE CASE. �To the case whose leading facts have thus been recited I am now to apply the principles of the law of salvage, and ascertain by their guidance the amount of money to be awarded for the successf ul service which has been described. Although it is true that this amount lies within the discretion of the judge, yet he is not at liberty to render an arbitrary judgment at his own individual discretion or caprice, — a ritsticumjudicium, — but must be governed in his award by the teachings of precedents and the recognized principles of the law of salvage. That this is a case of salvage — that is to say, a case for bounfy as well as wages — is conceded by the respondent, who admits that one-tenth of the value saved would not be an undue compensation. The libel- lant claims half, and my own duty is simply that of determining the amount of compensation to be awarded. Being a case of salvage, it is not one of mere wages, pro opere et labore, nor a case of quantum nieruit, in the sense that the work is to be paid for in an amount ascer- tained by applying the ordinary rules of remuneration for personal services; but it is a salvage claim for services which could not have been compensated at all except in the event of success, and which not only embraces wages for the work and labor done, and adequate remuneration for outlays of time, labor, and means according to their actual value, but also embraces a reward for having roscued property from the peril of the sea, under circumstances of risk and danger to the salvor and his property, and in the face of the contingency of get- ��� �