Maritime

Pertaining to the sea or ocean or the navigation thereof; or to commerce conducted by navigation of the sea or (in America) of the great lakes and rivers. It is nearly equivalent to "marine" in many connections and uses; in others, the two words are used as quite distinct.

— Maritime cause. A cause of action originating on the high seas, or growing out of a maritime contract. 1 Kent, Comm. 367, et seq.

— Maritime contract. A contract whose subject-matter has relation to the navigation of the seas or to trade or commerce to be conducted by navigation or to be done upon the sea or in ports. Over such contracte the admiralty has concurrent jurisdiction with the common-law courts. Edwards v. Elliott, 2l Wall. 553, 22 In Ed. 487; Doolittle v. Knobe-loch (D. C.) 39 Fed. 40; Holt v. Cummings, 102 Pa. 215, 48 Am. Rep. 199; De Lovio v. Boit, 7 Fed. Cas. 435; Freights of The Kate (D. C.) 63 Fed. 720.

— Maritime court. A court exercising jurisdiction in maritime causes; one which possesses the powers and jurisdiction of a court of admiralty.

— Maritime interest. An expression equivalent to marine interest, (q. v.)

— Maritime jurisdiction. Jurisdiction in maritime causes; such jurisdiction as belongs to a court of admiralty on the instance side.

— Maritime law. That system of law which particularly relates to commerce and navigation, to business transacted at sea or relating to navigation, to ships and shipping, to seamen, to the transportation of persons and property by sea, and to marine affairs generally. The law relating to harbors, ships, and seamen. An important branch of the commercial law of maritime nations; divided into a variety of departments, such as those about harbors, property of ships, duties and rights of masters and seamen, contracts of affreightment, average, salvage, etc. Wharton; The Lottawanna, 21 Wall. 572. 22 In Ed. 654; The Unadilla (D. C.) 73 Fed. 351; Jervey v. The Carolina (D. C.) 66 Fed. 1013.

— Maritime lien. A lien arising out of damage done by a ship in the course of navigation, as by collision, which attaches to the vessel and freight, and is to be enforced by an action in rem in the admiralty couris. The Unadilla (D. C.) 73 Fed. 351; Paxson v. Cunningham, 63 Fed. 134, 11 C. C. A. Ill; The Underwriter (D. C.) 119 Fed. 715; Stephenson v. The Francis (D. C.) 21 Fed. 719. Maritime liens do not include or require possession. The word "lien" is used in maritime law not in the strict legal sense in which we understand it in courts of common law, in which case there could be no lien where there was no possession, actual or constructive, but to express, as if by analogy, the nafure of claims which neither presuppose nor originate in possession. 22 Eng. Law & Eq. 62,

— Maritime loan. A contract or agreement by which one, who is the lender, lends to another, who is the borrower, a certain sum of money, upon condition that if the thing upon which the loan has been made should be lost by any peril of the sea, or vis major, the lender shall not be repaid unless what remains shall be equal to the sum borrowed; and if the thing arrive in safety, or in case it shall not have been injured but by its own defects or the fault of the master or mariners, the borrower shall be bound to return the sum borrowed, together with a certain sum agreed upon as the price of the hazard incurred. Emerig. Mar. Loans, c. 1, s. 2. And see The Draco, 7 Fed Cas. 1,042.

— Maritime profit. A term used by French writers to signify any profit derived from a maritime loan.

— Maritime service. In admiralty law. A service rendered upon the high seas or a navigable river, and which has some relation to commerce or navigation,
—some connection with a vessel employed in trade, with her equipment, her preservation, or the preservation of her cargo or 'crew. Thackarey v. The Farmer, 23 Fed. Cas. 877; The Atlantic (D. C.) 53 Fed. 609; Cope v. Vallette Dry-Dock Co. (C. C.) 16 Fed. 925.

— Maritime state, in English law. of the officers and mariners of the British navy, who are governed by express and permanent laws, or the articles of the navy, established by act of parliament.

— Maritime tort. A tort committed upon the high seas, or upon a navigable river or other navigable water, and hence (ailing within the jurisdiction of a court of admiralty. The term is never applied to a tort committed upon land, though relating to maritime matters. See The Plymouth, 3 Wall33,18 L. Ed. 125; Holmes v. Oregon & C. Ry. Co. (D. C.) 5 Fed. 77; In re Long Island, etc., Transp. Co. (D. C.) 5 Fed. 606; U. S. v. Burlington, etc., Ferry Co.. (I). C.) 21 Fed. 336.