ACTION AGAINST SHIP

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 69, 14 December 1939, Page 13

ACTION AGAINST SHIP

Allegation Of Assault By Steward NO JURISDICTION BY COURT . Whether the Supreme Court of New Zealand, in its capacity a s a Court of the Admiralty, has jurisdiction over an offence alleged to have been committed on a New Zealand citizen by an American subject in an American ship while the vessel was en route to the Dominion was a question decided by the Chief Justice (Sir Michael Myers) in a judgment delivered in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday. Plaintiff, Mrs. Rose Mabel Hamilton, widow, 'Wellington, claimed £lOO9 damages from the ship Monterey for alleged personal assault by a steward when the vessel was en route from Honolulu to Auckland. At the hearing, Mr. H. P. Richmond, Auckland, appearing for the ship, moved that the action be struck out. The action was opposed by Mr. W. P. Rollings, who appeared for plaintiff. “So far as the question depends upon jurisdiction conferred by. statute it is necessary as the foundation of jurisdiction that the claim should be for ■damage done by any ship.’ ” said his Honour. “Assuming for the purposes of this Case—though bni the airthonties the point may not be free from doubt—that the word ‘damage’ in the statute 'includes personal injury, the authorities show that the ship must be the ‘active cause’ of the damage. It is not sufficient that the injury is done merely on board a ship; it must be done by the ship or by those in charge of a ship, with the ship as the noxious instrument. That cannot be said in this case. ... "In my opinion the point of want of jurisdiction is well taken, and an order must therefore be made in accordance witli the terms of the motion. Defendants will have £lO/10/- for their costs of action and motion, and disbursements.”