Ghen v. Rich

8 F. 159 (1881)

From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Ghen v. Rich

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
8 F. 159 (1881)

Play video

Facts

In the nineteenth century, fishermen from Provincetown, Massachusetts, often hunted finback whales in the Massachusetts Bay off the coast of Cape Cod. The fishermen shot the whales with bomb lances, which killed the whales and caused their carcasses to sink. The carcasses then floated back to the surface or washed ashore one to three days later, often far from where the whales were killed. Once a carcass was found, the fisherman who had shot the whale could be identified by the fisherman’s personalized markings on the bomb lance. The custom in the Cape Cod area at the time provided that if a person found a finback-whale carcass on the beach, the finder would send word to Provincetown, and the fisherman who had shot the whale would send someone to the whale to remove the blubber. The finder would receive a small fee for finding and reporting the carcass. On April 9, 1880, Provincetown fisherman Ghen (plaintiff) shot and killed a finback whale with a bomb lance. Three days later, Ellis found the whale’s carcass on a beach 17 miles away. Contrary to custom, Ellis did not send word of the carcass to Provincetown and instead sold the carcass at auction to Rich (defendant), who harvested the blubber and oil from the carcass. Ghen sued Rich, seeking to recover the value of the whale.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Nelson, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 816,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership