United States v. The Grace Lothrop, 95 U.S. 527 (1877)
U.S. Supreme Court
United States v. The Grace Lothrop, 95 U.S. 527 (1877)
United States v. The Grace Lothrop
95 U.S. 527
Syllabus
The agreement, in writing or in print, which, with certain exceptions, the master of a vessel, bound from a port in the United States to any foreign port, is required, before proceeding on his voyage, to make with every seaman whom he carries to sea as one of his crew need not be signed in the presence of a shipping commissioner, when such voyage is to a port in the West India Islands.
This is an information against the brig Grace Lothrop for a violation of the Act of June 7, 1872, 17 Stat. (262), as amended by the Act of Jan. 15, 1873, id., 410.
The grounds of the information are that on the 18th of December, 1873, at Boston, one Atwood, while master of that vessel, did knowingly receive and accept, to be entered on
board, five seamen who had been theretofore engaged for a voyage from Boston to a port in the West Indies, by agreements in writing that had not been signed in the presence of a shipping commissioner, &c.
The answer of Atwood, the claimant, admits the facts as alleged, but denies that engagements for voyages to the West Indies are within the statutes referred to.
The court having dismissed the information, the United States appealed here.