Error to the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa; the case, as disclosed by the record, having been in substance this:
A collision occurred between the steamboats Hine and Sunshine, on the Mississippi River, at or near St. Louis, in which the latter vessel was injured. Some months afterwards, the owners of the Sunshine caused the Hine to be seized while she was lying at Davenport, Iowa, in a proceeding under the laws of that State, to subject her to sale in satisfaction of the damages sustained by their vessel. The code of Iowa, under which this seizure was made, gives a lien against any boat found in the waters of that State, for injury to person or property by said boat, officers or crew, &c.; gives precedence in liens; authorizes the seizure and sale of the boat, without any process against the wrongdoer, whether owner or master, and saves the plaintiff all his common-law rights, but makes no provision to protect the owner of the vessel.
The owners of the Hine interposed a plea to the jurisdiction of the State court. The point being ruled against them, it was carried to the Supreme Court of the State, where the judgment of the lower court was affirmed; and by the present writ of error this court was called upon to reverse that decision.
To comprehend the argument fully, it is here well to state that Congress had, prior to the date of this proceeding, enacted—
1. In 1789, September 24th, by the Judiciary Act, that the District Court of the United States 'shall have exclusive original cognizance of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, including all seizures under the laws of impost, navigation, or trade of the United States, where the seizures are made on waters which are navigable from the sea by vessels of ten or more tons burden. . . . Saving to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common-law remedy, where the common law is competent to give it.'
2. In 1845, by statute of the 26th February of that year, 'that the District Courts of the United States shall have, possess, and exercise the same jurisdiction in matters of contract and tort, arising in, upon, or concerning steamboats and other vessels of twenty tons burden and upwards, enrolled and licensed for the coasting trade, and at the same time employed in business of commerce and navigation, between ports and places in different states and territories, upon the lakes and navigable waters connecting said lakes, as is now possessed and exercised by the said courts in cases of the like steamboats and other vessels, employed in navigation and commerce upon the high seas, or tide-waters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States.'
The question in the present case was, how far the jurisdiction of the District Courts of the United States, in cases of admiralty arising on our navigable inland waters, is exclusive; and how far the State courts might exercise jurisdiction concurrently.
Mr. Cook, in favor of the concurrent State jurisdiction:
I. The Judiciary Act of 1789 invests the Federal District Courts with exclusive cognizance of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, saving to suitors in all cases the right of a common-law remedy, when the common law is competent to give it. This act was amended in 1845, and extended the admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal courts to cases on the lakes and navigable waters connecting the same, but expressly saving to parties the right of a concurrent remedy which may be given by State laws.
In England the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty was confined to the ebb and flow of the tide; and this court, in the cases of The Thomas Jefferson, and The Steamboat Orleans v. Phoebus, followed the English decisions, confining the admiralty jurisdiction. But in 1851, in the case of The Genesee Chief, it overruled these two cases, and held that the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty extended to the lakes and navigable waters of the United States. But neither in this case nor in any other case decided by this court, that we recall, was it decided that the jurisdiction of the District Courts of the United States in cases of admiralty is exclusive. The judiciary acts of Congress to which we have referred expressly save to suitors, as we have remarked, common-law remedies, and any concurrent remedies provided by State laws.