United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

The Frances, 12 U.S. 8 Cranch 418 418 (1814)

The Frances

12 U.S. (8 Cranch) 418

Syllabus

No lien upon enemy's property, by way of pledge for the payment of purchase money or otherwise is sufficient to defeat the rights of the captors in a prize court unless in very peculiar cases, where the lien is imposed by a general law of the mercantile world, independent of any contract between the parties.

Where goods are sent upon the account and risk of the shipper, the delivery to the master is a delivery to him as agent of the shipper, not of the consignee, and it is competent to the consignor, at any time before actual delivery to the consignee, to countermand it, and thus to prevent the consignee's lien from attaching.

This was an appeal from the sentence of the Circuit Court of Rhode Island condemning certain British goods captured on board the Frances. These goods were claimed by Thomas Irvin, a domiciled merchant of the United States, on the ground of lien.