The Law of the Sea

makes an appropriate decree for the sale of the ship to satisfy the amount due.

7. Interlocutory Sales. When the property remains in the custody of the marshal and is subject to undue expense or risk of loss, the court may order its immediate sale for the benefit of all concerned. The proceeds are paid into the registry of the court and represent the ship for all purposes up to the time of the sale. The purchaser at such a sale, as well as at a sale under a final decree, obtains a clear and perfect title, if the proceedings have been in accordance with law. All claims and liens are relegated to the proceeds.

8. Intervenors. All persons legally interested in a ship are entitled to appear and be heard by the court when she is in the custody of a court of admiralty. Such are parties having other maritime liens upon her and mortgagees. Their claims are presented, pursuant to the public notice given by the marshal, by intervening libels or petitions and they are called intervenors. The form of such petitions is substantially like that of an original libel. Generally when an owner will not bond his ship, she has become heavily in debt and all her creditors will be obliged to intervene in the proceeding in order to protect their accounts. A sale is accomplished and the proceeds brought into court as soon as possible. Distribution is then made between the various lienors according to their rank and priority. Any surplus will belong to the owner and he may obtain it at any time before it is covered into the Treasury of the United States as unclaimed funds.

9. Costs and Expenses. These are largely within the control of the parties and become heavy only to the extent that the court is burdened with the care of the property or its proceeds. If promptly bonded, the necessary costs are very small. If the marshal remains in possession, his costs will include ship-keeper's charges and all other expenses which the situation occasions. If he sells, there will be his commission on the amount realized, 22 per cent. on sums under five hundred dollars and 11⁄2 per cent. on sums in excess; the clerk will be entitled to a commission of I per cent. for handling the proceeds. His other necessary costs are small. Where, however, there is prolonged litigation, the expenses may become very heavy, especially in respect of stenographer's accounts and the fees of commissioners to whom matters of detail may be referred.

10. Proceedings in Personam.- Suits may also be brought against a defendant personally in the admiralty, where the subject matter is maritime and a personal liability exists. Such a liability always attaches to the person who made the contract or did the wrong for which the action is brought. In a few instances of maritime torts, like assaults and beatings on the high seas, the remedy is in personam only.

II. Process in Personam.- The writ here is usually a simple monition or summons to appear and answer the libel, like the ordinary writ in an action at law, but where the defendant cannot be found within the district, it may contain a clause for the attachment of his goods and chattels, or garnishment of his credits and effects. This proceeding is often very effective in obtaining security for the judgment when the proceeding in rem cannot be employed.

12. Proceedings in Limitation of Liability. The shipowner is entitled to limit his liability on account of the ship to its value in many cases and the General Admiralty Rules promulgated by the Supreme Court provide a very valuable proceeding for this purpose. In substance, whenever an owner is threatened with a multiplicity of suits on account of damage done by his ship, or by a claim or claims in excess of her value, and he is not personally liable on such account, he may file a petition in the proper court and surrender the ship to a trustee or give a bond for her appraised value. All other suits are thereupon stayed and all creditors must present their claims in the proceeding which he has so instituted. In effect, it is a maritime bankruptcy by which the ship, or her value, is surrendered to creditors for pro rata division and the owner goes free from further claims. It is the application of one of the underlying doctrines of the maritime law by which a shipowner, on abandoning the ship, can protect himself from further responsibility on her account.

APPENDICES