# The Thames

> District Court, S.D. New York · December 23, 1881 · 10 F. 848

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8122563

## Case

- **Full name:** The Thames
- **Court:** District Court, S.D. New York
- **Decided:** December 23, 1881
- **Citations:** 10 F. 848; 1881 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 243
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion of the court by Brown
- **Judges:** Brown
- **Cited by:** 35 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8122563

## Opinion text

Brown, D. J.
I am not prepared to assert jurisdiction in admiralty in this case. In the case of The Riga, L. R. 3 Ad. & Eecl. 516, the ultimate determination is not .reported, and the question depended wholly upon the statute, (3 & 4 Vict.) In this country such jurisdiction has never been asserted. In The Gustavia, Bl. & H. 189, shipping a crew was held like furnishing necessary supplies for a voyage. The distinction between preliminary services leading to a maritime contract and such contracts themselves have been affirmed in this country [from the first, and not yet departed from. It furnishes a distinction capable of somewhat easy application. If it be broken down, I do not perceive any other dividing line for excluding from the admiralty many other sorts of claims which have a reference, more or less near or remote, to navigation and commerce. If the broker of a charter-party be admitted, the insurance broker must follow, — the drayman, the expressman, and all others who perform services having reference to a voyage either in contemplation or executed.
In Merchant v. Lulan, upon a similar case, the libel was dismissed on execution (as I find on examination) on February 22, 1879, by Benedict, J., in- the eastern district, and the same decision must ba. made here.
Libel dismissed, with costs.
See Ferris v. The Bark E. D. Jewett, 2 Fed. Rep. 111.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/8122563. Public record. Not legal advice.