United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Red Cross Line v. Atlantic Fruit Co., 264 U.S. 109 (1924)

Red Cross Line v. Atlantic Fruit Company

No. 112

Argued November 14, 15, 1923

Decided February 18, 1924

264 U.S. 109

Syllabus

1. A decision of the highest court of a state excluding maritime contracts from the operation of a state statute, not as a matter of statutory construction, but due to its opinion that the federal Constitution so requires, present a constitutional question reviewable here. P. 264 U. S. 120.

2. Under the provision of the Judicial Code (§ 24, par. 3) vesting the district court with exclusive jurisdiction of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction but saving to suitors the right of a common law remedy, a state may confer upon its courts jurisdiction to specifically perform an agreement for arbitration, valid by the general maritime law and by the law of the state, which is contained in a charter party made in the state and which, by its terms, is to be performed there. P. 264 U. S. 122.

233 N.Y. 373 reversed.

Certiorari to a judgment of the Supreme Court of New York entered on a judgment of the New York Court of Appeals reversing a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court which had affirmed an order of the Supreme Court, in New York County, by which the present respondent was directed to proceed to arbitration under its contract contained in a charter party, executed in New York, whereby a vessel was chartered to the petitioner by the respondent

Page 264 U. S. 118