Today in Supreme Court History: August 15, 1938

8/15/1938: Justice Stephen Breyer's Birthday.

Justice Stephen Breyer

 

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Bas v. Tingy, 4 U.S. 37 (decided August 15, 1800): during the Quasi-War with France (well depicted in the miniseries "John Adams", with Paul Giamatti) a warship's captain "and others" brought suit for salvage (such a suit was called a "libel" in those days) after they recovered four ships which had been lost to French privateers three weeks previous. This is one of those early "seriatim" decisions in which the each judge takes his turn displaying 18th-century prolixity. They hold that France was an enemy (duh) and the ships were lost for more than 96 hours, so that the salvage statute applied, giving them the full value of the ships. (Making the captain and his crew privateers as well?)

[DaivdBehar]

Harvard indoctrinated amiable gaslighter for the Chinese Commie Party and for the destruction of our nation from within.

[Frank Drackman]

You look up "Pompous Ass" and you see Judge Breyer's picture!
Seriously folks (HT Sleepy J) I know we've only been able to hear Surpremes voices for the last (hmm, AlGores Internets says they've been recording their oral since 1955 but only recordings from 2010 on are on the website https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio/2021
but if anyone can find a more nasally condescending prickish tone, lets see it!

Frank

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Frank Drackman is the commenter the Volokh Conspiracy wants and deserves.

[hobie]

Looks like another of your boys at Claremont you work closely with is about to get pinched for election criminality, Blackman. First Easterman, now this Kennedy guy. I hope for your sake you didn't assist.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Related to letters of marque and reprisal, which the Constitution allowed Congress to issue and which allowed private bounty hunting for property that actually belonged to someone else. Stephen Decatur got famous for this with the Barbary pirates and it’s been noted that he was being little more than a privateer himself.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

That last makes no sense. A military captain was, and still is, expected to capture or destroy enemy ships, whether warships or merchant ships. Stephen Decatur was in the US Navy.

A pirate is any civilian who captures or destroys ships.

A privateer is a civilian who is authorized by his government to capture or destroy warships or merchant ships of nations which his country is at war with.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Possibly I have my Decaturs mixed up.