proceedings in rem
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 346 U.S. 556 - Madruga v. Superior Court of State of California in and for San Diego County · 1954Most cited · 519 citing opinions
proceedings in rem, that is, where a vessel or thing is itself treated as the offender and made the defendant by name or description in order to enforce a lien
How the Supreme Court has restated “proceedings in rem”
Each Supreme Court definition of “proceedings in rem,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “proceedings in rem”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “proceedings in rem” — 560 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 4 definitions, chronological · 1807–1954
- ORIGINAL
Between the rights of a claimant where a libel is filed and where it is not filed, no distinction is perceived, and the court conceives the necessary result of proceedings in rem to be that the thing in litigation must be placed in the custody of the law, and cannot be delivered to either party but on sufficient security.
custody of the law
Proceedings of this character are allowed to conclude the rights of the absent party, only as it respects property, whether real or personal, involved in the suit, the property of the party proceeded against. They act upon the thing, and bind the party in respect to it.
effect on absent parties
Whenever the res is seized in admiralty proceedings proper, or in revenue or other proceedings partaking of that character, the property is condemned and sold, and with the distribution of the proceeds the case ends, unless some one appears in court as claimant either of the res or its proceeds. When a claimant appears he becomes a party to the proceedings, and may defend, take an appeal, or writ of error, or adopt any other proceeding that a party properly before the court may be entitled to.