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| LA NEREYDA
21 U.S. 108 (1823) 8 Wheat. 108
PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Libellant Spanish consul appealed from the decree of the Circuit Court of Maryland, which pro forma affirmed a district court's decree of restitution in favor of claimant, who insisted that he had purchased the vessel claimed by the consul at auction following a capture and condemnation in Venezuela. Claimant was ordered to produce a copy of the papers upon which the sentence of condemnation was founded and the asserted sale was made.
OVERVIEW: A Spanish vessel of war was captured by a privateer operating under a foreign commission, and she was carried into Venezuela and claimed as a prize to the captors. Thereafter, the vessel sailed under the command of the original prize master to the privateer's home port in the United States, where she underwent extensive repairs and a new master was appointed. When the Spanish consul laid claim to the vessel, alleging that the capture was illegal, claimant appeared by an agent and asserted that he held title under a sale in pursuance of a sentence of condemnation. A decree in favor of claimant was upheld, but the consul appealed. Claimant was ordered to produce further proof of the Venezuelan proceedings to support his claim, but none was produced. In reversing, the court ruled that claimant failed to meet his burden of proving that the Venezuelan court had jurisdiction to adjudicate the prize cause. Not only did claimant's non-production of proof of the Venezuelan proceedings justify rejection of his claim, but the circumstantial evidence suggested that no real sale ever took place, and that the vessel remained with the original captors, such that he had no proprietary interest.
OUTCOME: The decree was reversed, and the vessel was ordered to be restored to the consul, with costs.
Latin American wars of independence
Capture of Spanish vessel by Privateer licensed by Uruguay
Harper and Hoffman for Spanish consul; Winder fo privateer
Opinion; Story, J. |
