Southern Pacific Company v. Jensen

Citations

• 244 U.S. 205
• 37 S. Ct. 524
• 61 L. Ed. 1086
• 1917 U.S. LEXIS 1628
• 1996 A.M.C. 2076

Syllabus

<p>The Federal Employers’ Liability Act applies only where- the injury occurs in railroad operations or their adjuncts, and cannot be extended to interstate maritime transportation merely because the vessel in the case is owned and operated by an interstate carrier by railroad.</p> <p>The word “boats” in the statute refers to vessels which may be properly regarded as but part of a railroad’s extension or equipment as understood and applied in common practice.</p> <p>IJnder Art. Ill, § 2, of the Constitution, extending the judicial power of the United States “to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,” and Art. I, § 8, conferring on Congress power to make all laws which may be necessary and proper for executing the powers vested in the general government or in any of its departments or officers, Congress has paramount power to fix and determine the maritime law which shall prevail throughout the country.</p> <p>In the absence of controlling statutes, the general maritime law as accepted by the federal courts constitutes part of our national law applicable to matters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.</p> <p>The power of the States to change, modify or affect the general maritime law, while existing to some extent under the Constitution and the Judiciary Act of 1789, § 9, Judicial Code-, §§ 24, 256, may not contravene the essential purposes of an act of Congress, work material prejudice to the characteristic features of the general maritime law or interfere with the proper harmony and uniformity of that law in its international and interstate relations.</p> <p>Work performed by a stevedore on board a ship in unloading her at wharf in navigable waters is maritime; his employment for such work and injuries suffered in it are likewise maritime, and the rights and liabilities arising from such work, employment and injuries are clearly within the admiralty jurisdiction. Atlantic Transport Co. v. Imbrovek, 234 U. S. 52.</p> <p>A stevedore engaged on a