Petitory

That which demands or petitions; that which has the quality of a prayer or petition; a right to demand. A petitory suit or action is understood to be one in which the mere title to property is to be enforced by means of a demand, petition, or other legal proceeding, as distinguished from a suit where only the right of possession and not the mere right of property is in controversy.

1 Kent 371; U. S. v. King, 7 IIow. (U. S.) 840, 12 L». Ed. 934.

Admiralty suits touching property in ships are either petitory, in which the mere title to the property is litigated, or possessory, to restore the possession to the party entitled thereto. The American courts of ^admiralty exercise unquestioned jurisdiction in petitory as well as possessory actions; The Amelia, 23 Fed. 406; Wood v. Two Barges, 46 Fed. 204; but admiralty will not enforce a merely equitable title; The Eclipse, 135 U. S. 599, 10 Sup. Ct. 873, 34 L. Ed. 269. In England the courts of law, some time after the restoration in 1660, claimed exclusive cognizance of mere questions of title until the statute of 3 & 4 Viet. c.

65.

By that statute the court of admiralty was authorized to decide all questions as to the title to or ownership of any ship or vessel, or the proceeds thereof remaining in the registry in any cause of possession, salvage, damage, wages, or bottomry, instituted in such court after the passing of that act; Ward v. Peck, 18 How. (U. S.) 267, 15 L. Ed. 383; The Friendship, 2 Curt. C. C. 426, Fed. Cas. No. 5,123.