Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/738

CONSTANÏINE- C. SCHOONEB SIVEB QUEBN. 731 �CoNBTANTiNB and others v. Thb Sohoonbb River Quebn. �{Diitrict Court, S. D. New York. May 19, 1880.) �Admiraltt— Maritime Service.— The weighing, inspecting and meas- uring of the cargo of a vessel constitutes a maritime service. �F. A. Wilcox, for libellant. �W. W. Goodrich, for claimant. �Choate, D. J. This is a libel against the schooner River Queen to recover for services alleged to have been rendered by the libellant in weighing, inspecting and measuring the cargo preparatory to its delivery, and -which, by the contraot of affreightment, was required to be done by the vessel before delivery. The service is alleged to have been rendered at the request of the master and owners of the vessel. It is not alleged whether the vessel is domestic or foreign, nor that the service was rendered upon the credit of the vessel. �The owner appeared as claimant, and filed exceptions to the libel (1) that the court bas no jurisdiction upon the allega- tions of the libel, and (2) that the contract upon which the libel is founded is not a maritime contract, such as to give the court jurisdiction. �This case was heard with the case of The Windermere, ante, 722, and submitted as involving upon the exceptions the same point as that case ; the only difference referred to by counsel being the difference in the nature of the service rendered. The point, therefore, does not seem to be raised whether, if the vessel is a domestic vessel, the libellant's claim,if in the nature of a claim for neeessaries furnished to the vessel, is limited to a claim in personam, on the facts stated in the libel, on the principle declared in The General Smith, 4 Wh. 438. Nor ia it made a ground of exception, as in The Windermere, ante, 722, that the libel does not state a cause of action. �The first exception seems not equivalent to that. The only point made in argument in support of either exception is that the contract declared on is not maritime. While, therefore, I have some doubt whether other points might not be raised ����