Friedell on Judge Willam Marvin and the Law of Salvage

Steven F. Friedell, Rutgers Law School, has published Judge William Marvin and the Law of Salvage at 12 British Journal of American Legal Studies 2 (2023). Here is the abstract.

This essay explores the salvage decisions rendered by William Marvin during his time as a judge in Key West (1839-45; 1847-63). It also discusses his celebrated treatise on salvage law (1858), which cemented his reputation as one of America’s leading authorities on maritime law. It discusses why Marvin continued to act as a Superior Court judge for over a year after Florida ceased to be a territory. Lastly, it recounts how Marvin superintended the city’s notorious wrecking industry.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.

Hornby and Akrawi on History Lessons: Instructive Legal Episodes from Maine's Early Years--Episode 3: An Enslaved Man Suing in Federal Court @GB2d

D. Brock Hornby and Emma Akrawi have published History Lessons: Instructive Legal Episodes from Maine's Early Years — Episode 3: An Enslaved Man Suing in Federal Court at 26 Green Bag 2d 101 (2023). Here is the abstract.

In 1837, Lambert Bercier of French Guadeloupe engaged Captain Sylvanus Prince of North Yarmouth, Maine, to transport Bercier's 30-year-old slave Polydore and Bercier's 17-year-old son Eugene to Maine on board the brig Galen. On the voyage, the Captain repeatedly assaulted Polydore. Polydore brought a civil suit for damages in federal court in Portland, Maine. The outcome was Polydore v. Prince, an 1837 federal decision by Judge Ashur Ware that is often ignored and sometimes mischaracterized, holding an enslaved man could sue in federal admiralty court for floggings on the high seas. This article revisits the case, drawing from recently accessed archived court documents.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.

Yo, Ho, Ho: Sailors and Rum @GB2d

Ross E. Davies, George Mason Univesrity Law School; The Green Bag, is publishing Sailors and Rum, at Sea and Ashore in Deadly Harpoon: A Facsimile of the Original Manuscript of “The Adventure of Black Peter” by Arthur Conan Doyle with Annotations and Commentary (Glen Miranker, ed., BSI Press 2018)). Here is the abstract.

An examination of the regulation and culture of grog in Victorian maritime life, using a scenario drawn from a Sherlock Holmes story -- “The Adventure of Black Peter.”

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.