Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/748

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

786 TEDEBAL BEPOBTEB. �decision of Wallaee, D. J., that it is, said of section 4192, Eev^ St., and the proviso thereto, concerning the lien of bottomry : �" The obvious purpose of this pfoviso was to make H entirely clear that a bottomry bond did not corne within the sta,tute requiriag certain instru- ments to be recorded. It might otherwise have been contended that it was In some sense a hypothecation of the vessel, and therefore required to be recorded. It will be observed that the proviso is conflned to liens by bottomry. If this proviso be construed to mean that such a lien is only out of the purview of the statute, and that all other liens are postponed to that of a mortgagee, then the claims of salvors, and all those having other strictly maritime liens, would be thus postponed, to the subversion of the whole principle upon which elHcacy is givea to such claims, and the overthrow of the best-settled and most salutary principles of the mari- time law. Indeed, any principle upon which this statute can be ex- pounded to give such priority to a recorded mortgage, would also extend to bills of sale and other conveyances recorded under the same law, and thus practically overthrow the whole scheme of the maritime law upon the subject of maritime liens. This statute, I conclude, therefore, has no relation to the question inVolved ; and the lien of the libellant is left to stand upon the statute of New York, which the ■ courts of the United States do enforce in the courts of admiralty. " �In conclusion, tkis is a controversy betwaen two parties claiming liens upon the Vessel under the law of New York, which declares that the lien of the material man shall ' be preferred, and therefore it is entitled to be first gatisfied out of the proceeds; and also that the lien of the material manj although given by the local law, is given' to secure the per- formance of a maritime contract, and is practically a mari- time lien, and should, therefore, take rank with it, and be preferred to a mortgage. The William T. Graves, suivra, 192 ; The General Bwrnside, 3 Fbd. Eep. 232. �The claim of the libellant must be first paid in full, with interest and costs, — $684.52, — and the remainder of the pro- ceeds — $1,680.63 — delivered to the claimant. ��� �