Van Der Weyde v. Ocean Transport Co., Ltd., 297 U.S. 114 (1936)

Van der Weyde v. Ocean Transport Co., Ltd.

No. 4

Submitted January 15, 1936
Decided February 3, 1936
297 U.S. 114

CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Syllabus

1. Jurisdiction, if otherwise existing in the District Court over a libel of a Norwegian vessel by a seaman for personal injuries sustained on board in 1922, was not affected by Article XIII of the Treaty of 1827 with Sweden and Norway providing a consular jurisdiction for adjudication of differences between captains and crews, inasmuch as that Article was terminated in 1919, by this Government, acting through the President and the Secretary of State. P. 116.

2. Under § 16 of the Seamen’s Act of March 4, 1915, by which Congress expressed its judgment that treaty provisions in conflict with the Act should be terminated and requested and directed the President to give notice to that effect to Governments concerned, it was the duty of the President to reach his conclusions as to such conflicts, and his finding of inconsistency between Article XIII of the Treaty of 1827, supra, and provisions of the statute was neither arbitrary nor inadmissible. P. 117.

3. Norway having agreed to the termination of Article XIII of the Treaty, her consul cannot be heard to question it. P. 118.

4. The Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Consular Rights of June 5, 1928, between Norway and the United States, which supplanted most of the Treaty of 1827, including Article XIII, cannot be regarded as affecting retroactively the jurisdiction of the District Court. P. 118.

73 F.2d 922 reversed.

Certiorari, 296 U.S. 567, to review a decree affirming the dismissal of a libel in admiralty for want of jurisdiction. Reported below sub nom. The Taigen Maru.