Assembler
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- May 10, 2017
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- Detector(s) used
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1. The doctrine of the common law as to the navigability of waters has no application in this country. Here the ebb and flow of the tide do not constitute the usual test, as in England, or any test at all of the navigability of waters.
2. The test by which to determine the navigability of our rivers is found in their navigable capacity. Those rivers are public navigable rivers in law which are navigable in fact.
3. Rivers are navigable in fact when they are used or are susceptible of being used in their ordinary condition as highways for commerce over which trade and travel are or may be conducted in the customary modes of trade and travel on water.
4. And they constitute navigable waters of the United States within the meaning of the acts of Congress, in contradistinction from the navigable waters of the states, when they form in their ordinary condition, by themselves or by uniting with other waters, a continued highway over which commerce is or may be carried on with other states or foreign countries in the customary modes in which such commerce is conducted by water.
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/77/557/case.html
The act of July 7, 1838, [Footnote 1] provides in its second section that it shall not be lawful for the owner, master, or captain of any vessel propelled in whole or in part by steam to transport any merchandise or passengers upon "the bays, lakes, rivers, or other navigable waters of the United States" after the 1st of October of that year without having first obtained from the proper officer a license under existing laws, that for every violation of this enactment the owner or owners of the vessel shall forfeit and pay to the United States the sum of five hundred dollars, and that for this sum the vessel engaged shall be liable and may be seized and proceeded against summarily by libel in the District Court of the United States.
The act of August 30, 1852, [Footnote 2] which is amendatory of the act of July 7, 1838, provides for the inspection of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam and carrying passengers and the delivery to the collector of the district of a certificate of such inspection before a license, register, or enrollment, under either of the acts can be granted, and declares that if any vessel of this kind is navigated with passengers on board, without complying with the terms of the act, the owners and the vessel shall be subject to the penalties prescribed by the second section of the act of 1838.
2. The test by which to determine the navigability of our rivers is found in their navigable capacity. Those rivers are public navigable rivers in law which are navigable in fact.
3. Rivers are navigable in fact when they are used or are susceptible of being used in their ordinary condition as highways for commerce over which trade and travel are or may be conducted in the customary modes of trade and travel on water.
4. And they constitute navigable waters of the United States within the meaning of the acts of Congress, in contradistinction from the navigable waters of the states, when they form in their ordinary condition, by themselves or by uniting with other waters, a continued highway over which commerce is or may be carried on with other states or foreign countries in the customary modes in which such commerce is conducted by water.
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/77/557/case.html
The act of July 7, 1838, [Footnote 1] provides in its second section that it shall not be lawful for the owner, master, or captain of any vessel propelled in whole or in part by steam to transport any merchandise or passengers upon "the bays, lakes, rivers, or other navigable waters of the United States" after the 1st of October of that year without having first obtained from the proper officer a license under existing laws, that for every violation of this enactment the owner or owners of the vessel shall forfeit and pay to the United States the sum of five hundred dollars, and that for this sum the vessel engaged shall be liable and may be seized and proceeded against summarily by libel in the District Court of the United States.
The act of August 30, 1852, [Footnote 2] which is amendatory of the act of July 7, 1838, provides for the inspection of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam and carrying passengers and the delivery to the collector of the district of a certificate of such inspection before a license, register, or enrollment, under either of the acts can be granted, and declares that if any vessel of this kind is navigated with passengers on board, without complying with the terms of the act, the owners and the vessel shall be subject to the penalties prescribed by the second section of the act of 1838.
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