Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 4.djvu/493

 LANDS V. A CARGO OF 227 TONS OF COAL. 479 �8. Admibamt JtTBisDioTioN — Mabitime Contbacts.— Courts of ad- miralty have jurisdictlon of ail maritime contracte. Steantr-boat v. Phœbus, 11 Pet. 175. �4. Mamtime Contbact — C?ontbaot or Affbeiqhtment.— A contract �for the transportatlon of frelght or marchandise upon navigahle waters Is maritime in its character. Candlrloat WaUh, 5 Ben. 73. �5. Navigable Watebs — Judicial Notice. — The court wUl take Ju- �didal notice In such case that the waters on whlch the contract was performed were navigable, -wlthout any allegation of the fact in the Ubel. �The Apollon, 9 Wheat. 374. �The Steam^loat Jefferson, 10 Wheat 428. �Peyroux v. Howard, 7 Pet 342. �Libel in Rem. �J. A. Hyland, for libellant. �R. Wayne Parker, for claimant. �Nixon, D. J. This is a proceeding in rem agaînst a cargo of 227 tons of coal, to recover for freight in transporting it in the libellant's boat, the E. N. Brooke, from Elizabethport to Newark, in this state, and for demurrage for the detention of the vessel in discharging the cargo. On the retum of the monition the respondents filed two exceptions: (1) That the libel did not diselose a case of which the court had jurisdic- tion ; (2) that the monitions did not sv,fficiently deseribe the property to be attached. �It is an answer to both to say that, with regard to the first exception, a jurisdictional question is raised, Tvhich a court of admiralty requires to be presented by the pleadings and proof s, and ordinarily refuses to decide upon a mere motion, (see Cushing v. Laird, 4 Ben. 88 ; Dennistoun v. Draper, 5 Blatchf . 336 ; The Othello, 1 Ben. 43 ;) and, with regard to the second, there is no pretence that the marshal has been misled, and attached the ■wrong property for lack of a more definite descrip- tion. The advocate of the libellant has filed with his brief the affidavit of the libellant that the boat performing the service, for which the freight is alleged to be due, is a foreign vessel — both the vessel and the owner belonging to the port of New York. If he deem the fact a material one in the case, he has leave to amend his libel in this respect. ����