The first question to be considered is that of the jurisdiction of the district court to hear and determine the cause. It is unnecessary here, and would be out of place, to examine the question which has so often engaged the attention of the common-law courts, whether, and in what cases, the courts of one country should take cognizance of controveries arising in a foreign country, or in places outside of the jurisdiction of any country. It is very fully discussed in Mostyn v. Fabrigas, and the notes thereto in 1 Smith, Lead. Cas. 765; and an instructive analysis of the law will be found in the elaborate arguments of counsel in the case of the San Francisco Vigilant Committee, (Molony v. Dows, 8 Abb. Pr. 316,) argued before Judge DALY in New York, 1859. We shall content ourselves with inquiring what rule is followed by courts of admiralty in dealing with maritime causes arising between foreigners and others on the high seas.
This question is not a new one in these courts. Sir WILLIAM SCOTT had occasion to pass upon it in 1799. An American ship was taken by the French on a voyage from Philadelphia to London, and afterwards rescued by her crew, carried to England, and libeled for salvage; and the court entertained jurisdiction. The crew, however, though engaged in the American ship, were British-born subjects, and weight was given to this circumstance in the disposition of the case. The judge, however, made the following remarks: 'But, it is asked, if they were American seamen would this court hold plea of their demands? It may be time enough to answer this question whenever the fact occurs. In the mean time, I will say without scruple that I can see no inconvenience that would arise if a British court of justice was to hold plea in such a case; or, conversely, if American courts were to hold pleas of this nature respecting the merits of British seamen on such occasions. For salvage is a question of jus gentium, and materially different from the q estion of a mariner's contract, which is a creature of the particular institutions of the country, to be applied and construed and explained by its own particular rules. There might be good reason, therefore, for this court to decline to interefere in such cases, and to remit them to their own domestic forum; but this is a general claim, upon the general ground of quantum meruit, to be governed by a sound discretion, acting on general principles; and I can see no reason why one country should be afraid to trust to the equity of the courts of another on such a question, of such a nature, so to be determined.' The Two Friends, 1 C. Rob. 271, 278.
The law has became settled very much in accord with these views. That was a case of salvage; but the same principles would seem to apply to the case of destroying or injuring a ship, as to that of saving it. Both, when acted on the high seas, between persons of different nationalities, come within the domain of the general law of nations, or communis juris, and are prima facie proper subjects of inquiry in any court of admiralty which first obtains jurisdiction of the rescued or offending ship at the solicitation in justice of the meritorious or injured parties.