The Moses Taylor
United States Supreme Court
71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 411, 18 L.Ed. 397 (1866)
- Written by Carolyn Strutton, JD
Facts
The State of California passed a statute that authorized any passenger on a vessel who had been harmed by a breach of a passage contract to bring an in rem action directly against that vessel. Hammons (plaintiff) was a steerage passenger on the steamship Moses Taylor (defendant) on a voyage to San Francisco. Once the Moses Taylor arrived in San Francisco, Hammons went to a justice of the peace and initiated a proceeding against the Moses Taylor under the statute, alleging that the overcrowded conditions and poor food served in the steerage areas of the ship constituted a breach of his passage contract. The agent for the Moses Taylor alleged that the justice of the peace had no jurisdiction to hear the case because the claim fell within the exclusive admiralty jurisdiction of the federal courts. The justice ruled that he had jurisdiction and granted judgment to Hammons. Upon appeal, the decision was upheld by the county court. The case eventually came before the United States Supreme Court on a writ of error.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Field, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 806,000 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.
