Page:United States Reports, Volume 2.djvu/278

 2.72 Cares ruled and adjudged in the .1797. chara£ter of a fentence in 4 foreign Court af Admiralty, to an Low`.! extent fo extravagant, that American ttibumls ihould be well convinced of the reafon and juflice oi the pslition on which it turns, before they voluntarily acquiefcein the tgcilion. Befides, this is not a queltion of Englylb municipal law, in which the judgment of an Eaglylv Court mult be refpeéed as evidence of the law : but it is a qneltion ariling on the Law of Nations; and if there is a diverfity of opinion in tin: Courts of different nations, every nation is at liberty to eztamirg gh; Principle, '1` hus, then, it has been determined in l·i-ance, itat the fentcnce of a Court of Admiralty is not conclulive in a tontroverfy be. tween the underwriters and the alfured. Emerryn (a writer celebrated even in We/Imir_¢er-Hall) fays: ¢*1Ig]tdrac certain, que Ir: cjirreur: répvndent de Ia cwy@C·at£.r1 infn/Pe prvtnncée par Ie frihmal du lieu cu Ie navire pri: a E15 conduit. Lerjrrgeraen: rex:. dur par Ic: Tribunaux Strangers, nzjbnt eu Fmnce d`aurun pair]: contre Ic: Frrmgair, et gif il [but gm: Ia cuu e yjbit de muveau de— cidée. Drk iI_/irit, que Iejugcment dc can _/Zlifidll prcncncé pdr un Triirunal enncmi, n’g/I ni une preuvc que Ie writable paur compte cit été cacbé, ni un titre que Ie: qfirreur: pawn! ahbiguer pourf: dgyybett/2·»· de payer Ia perl:. Telle  natrrjurwbrudencef I Emer. 45 7. 8.* Great Britain, as an underwriting nation, has an ob- vious interefl: in maintaining a contrary doé`trinc;._but, as the po~ licy does not apply to the fituation of America; the praéiice ought not to be adopted. · Even, however, if the fentencc of a Court of Admiralty were to be confidered as conclulive as the ltrongeii: of the Englyir cafes can juliify, the prefent eaufe would not be afi`e£led; for, ’ it can only be conclulive upon what it appears to have decided; and it is impollible from the prefent decree to afcertain the ground of condemnation. In that refpeét, this caufe is analo- gous to the cafe of Bernard} rr. Ilfctteux. Dang. 5 55 ; the ge- neral warranty being there as forcible, as the additional claufe in the policies now controvcrted. Under every warranty, then, the only queflionis, what the parties meant? Parke Lyi 4lC• 392. 3. 4. 5. 492. I6. got (/ry? Edin) Here, they plainly meant, that, if the property aliixred was A»:rer-iran, thc under- writers lhould be hound to pay. But, it is anfwered, the libc} allcdgerl “ It is certain, that the urtlzrwritrrs muli be rcfponliirlc. in the cafe of an unjnfl: confiscation. pronounced hy the tribunal of the place, to which the captured velirl has been c¤.m.in.‘etl. judgments rendertd by foreign trihumla are ofno weight in France-, again!} l*r··nr:|nnc:; and the caufe mult there bedcriiletl de 11.21:;:. llence, it l`o'lnw<, that the fcnttnce of confiscation pronourucrrl by the tribunal of an enensy. is neither a proof that the real owner has been concearlrd ; nor a title which the underwriters can allcdge, to aroid paying the lufS» Such is our law.”

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