Vessel
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
See Ship. An open boat is not a ship or vessel. The term vessel is never, pr at least very rarely, used to designate any water-craft without a deck.
United States v. An Open Boat and Lading, 5 Mas. 120, 137.
Vessel, in the provision of La. Code that commercial partners are those who are engaged in " carrying personal property for hire in ships or other vessels," means any structure which is made to float upon the water, for purposes of commerce or war, whether impelled by wind, steam, or oars.
Chaffe V. Ludeling, 27 La. Ann. 607.
Setting fire to a small, unfinished boat, still in the hands of the builder, and unfit for use, in a shop, is not within a statute punishing setting fire to a vessel.
Commonwealth D. Francis, Thach. Cr. Cas. 240.
Whether canal-boats are within the word vessel, see Hicks v. Williams, 17 Barb. 528; Crawford v. Collins, 45 Barb. 269. Vessel, as used in the act of congress to prevent smuggling, includes every description of water-craft, raft, vehicle, and contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means or auxiliary of transportation on or by water.
Act of July 18, 1866, § 1, 14 Stat.. at L. 178.