CORFIELD v.

CORYELL

CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR PENNSYLVANIA.

1825.

[4 Wash. C. C. 371.]

This was an action of trespass for seizing, taking, and

carrying away, and converting to the defendant's use, a
certain vessel, the property of the plaintiff, called the
"Hiram." Plea not guilty, with leave to justify. The case, as
proved at the trial, was as follows: . . . [Here it is
stated that the plaintiff was owner of the "Hiram," a
vessel licensed as a coaster, which, being let to one
Keene, proceeded from Philadelphia in May, 1821, to
certain oyster beds in the waters of New Jersey, and
was there seized while dredging for oysters ; and was
condemned and sold by judicial proceedings under the
laws of New Jersey. The defendant acted as "prize
master" in the seizure.]

Washington, J., after stating to the jury the great

importance of many of the questions involved ш this
cause, recommended to them to find for the plaintiff, and
assess the damages; subject to the opinion of the court
upon the law argument of the facts in the cause.

Verdict for $560, subject, &c.

This case was argued, on the points of law agreed by

the counsel to arise on the facts, at the October term,
1824, and was taken under advisement until April term,
1825, when the following opinion was delivered:

Washington, J., delivered the opinion of the court. The

points reserved present, for the consideration of the
court, many interesting and difficult questions, which will
be examined in the shape of objec-tions made by the
plaintiff's counsel to the seizure of the "Hiram," and the
proceedings of the magistrates of Cumberland County,
upon whose sentence the defendant rests his justification
of the alleged trespass. These objections are, —

First. That the Act of the Legislature of New Jersey of the

9th of June, 1820, under which this vessel, found
engaged in taking oysters in Morris River Cove by means
of dredges, was seized, condemned, and sold, is
repugnant to the Constitution of the United States in the
following particulars :

1. To the eighth section of the first article, which grants

to Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign
nations, and among the several States, and with the
Indian tribes.

2. To the second section of the fourth article, which

declares, that the citizens of each State shall be entitled
to all privileges and immuni-ties of citizens in the several
States.

3. To the second section of the third article, which

declares, that the judicial power of the United States
should extend to all cases of admi-ralty and maritime
jurisdiction.
In case the Act should be considered as not being
exposed to these constitutional objections, it is then
insisted,

Secondly. That the locus in quo was not within the

territorial limits of New Jersey. But if it was, then

Thirdly. It was not within the jurisdiction of the

magistrates of Cumberland County.

Fourthly. We have to consider the objection made by the

defendant's counsel to the form of this action.

The first section of the Act of New Jersey declares, that,

from and after the 1st of May, till the 1st of September in
every year, no person shall rake on any oyster bed in this
State, or gather any oysters on any banks or beds within
the same, under a penalty of $10.

Second section. No person residing in, or out of this

State, shall, at any time, dredge for oysters in any of the
rivers, bays, or waters of the State, under the penalty
of $50.

The third section prescribes the manner of proceeding,

in cases of violations of the preceding sections.

The two next sections have nothing to do with the

present case.

The sixth section enacts, that it shall not be lawful for

any person, who is not, at the time, an actual inhabitant
and resident of this State, to gather oysters in any of
the rivers, bays, or waters in this State, on board of any
vessel, not wholly owned by some person, inhabitant of,
or actually residing in this State; and every person so
offending, shall forfeit $10, and shall also forfeit the
vessel employed in the commission of such offence, with
all the oysters, rakes, &c., belonging to the same.

The seventh section provides, that it shall be lawful for

any person to seize and secure such vessel, and to give
information to two justices of the county where such
seizure shall be made, who are required to meet for the
trial of the said case, and to determine the same; and in
case of condemnation, to order the said vessel, &c. to be
sold.

The first question then is, whether this Act, or either

section of it, is repugnant to the power granted to
Congress to regulate commerce? . . .

2. The next question is, whether this Act infringes that

section of the Constitution which declares that "the
citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States
"?

The inquiry is, what are the privileges and immunities of

citizens in the several States? We feel no hesitation in
confining these expres- sions to those privileges and
immunities which are, in their nature, fundamental; which
belong, of right, to the citizens of all free govern-ments;
and which have, at all times, been enjoyed by the citizens
of the several States which compose this Union, from
the time of their becoming free, independent, and
sovereign. What these fundamental principles are, it
would perhaps be more tedious than difficult to enu-
merate. They may, however, be all comprehended under
the following general heads: protection by the
government; the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the
right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and
to pursue and obtain happiness and safety; subject never-
theless to such restraints as the government may justly
prescribe for the general good of the whole. The right
of a citizen of one State to pass through, or to reside in
any other State, for purposes of trade, agriculture,
professional pursuits, or otherwise; to claim the benefit of
the writ of habeas corpus; to institute and maintain
actions of any kind in the courts of the State; to take, hold
and dispose of property, either real or personal; and an
exemption from higher taxes or impositions than are paid
by the other citizens of the State; may be mentioned as
some of the particular privileges and immunities of
citizens, which are clearly embraced by the general
description of privileges deemed to be fundamental; to
which may be added, the elective franchise, as regu-lated
and established by the laws or constitution of the State in
which it is to be exercised. These, and many others
which might be men-tioned, are, strictly speaking,
privileges and immunities, and the enjoy-ment of them by
the citizens of each State, in every other State, was
manifestly calculated (to use the expressions of the
preamble of the corresponding provision in the old
Articles of Confederation) "the better to secure and
perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the
people of the different States of the Union."

But we cannot accede to the proposition which was

insisted on by the counsel, that, under this provision of
the Constitution, the citizens of the several States are
permitted to participate in all the rights which belong
exclusively to the citizens of any other particular State,
merely upon the ground that they are enjoyed by those
citizens; much less, that in regulating the use of the
common property of the citizens of such State, the
legislature is bound to extend to the citizens of all the
other States the same advantages as are secured to their
own citizens.

A several fishery, either as the right to it respects

running fish, or such as are stationary, such as oysters,
clams, and the like, is as much the property of the
individual to whom it belongs, as dry land, or land
covered by water; and is equally protected by the laws of
the State against the aggressions of others, whether
citizens or strangers. Where those private rights do not
exist to the exclusion of the common right, that of fishing
belongs to all the citizens or subjects of the State. It is
the property of all; to be enjoyed by them in
subordination to the laws which regulate its use. They
may be considered as tenants in common of this
property; and they are so exclusively entitled to the use
of it, that it cannot be enjoyed by others without the
tacit consent, or the express permission of the sovereign
who has the power to regulate its use.

This power in the Legislature of New Jersey to exclude

the citizens of the other States from a participation in
the right of taking oysters within the waters of that State,
was denied by the plaintiffs counsel, upon principles of
public law, independent of the provision of the Con-
stitution which we are considering, upon the ground that
they are incapable of being appropriated until they are
caught. This argu- ment is unsupported, we think, by
authority. Rutherfoth, b. 1, ch. 5, sect. 4 and 5, who
quotes Grotius as his authority, lays it down, that,
although wild beasts, birds, and fishes, which have not
been caught, have never in fact been appropriated, so as
to separate them from the common stock to which
all men are equally entitled, yet where the exclusive
right in the water and soil which a person has occasion
to use in taking them is vested in others, no other person
can claim the liberty of hunting, fishing, or fowling, on
lands, or waters, which are so appropriated. "The
sovereign," says Grotius, b. 2, ch. 2, sect. 5, "who
has dominion over the land, or waters, in which the fish
are, may prohibit foreigners [by which expression we
understand him to mean others than subjects or citizens
of the State] from taking them."

That this exclusive right of taking oysters in the waters

of New Jersey has never been ceded by that State, in
express terms, to the United States, is admitted by the
counsel for the plaintiff; and having shown, as we think
we have, that this right is a right of property, vested
either in certain individuals, or in the State, for the use of
the citizens thereof; it would, in our opinion, be going
quite too far to construe the grant of privileges and
immunities of citizens, as amount-ing to a grant of a co-
tenancy in the common property of the State, to the
citizens of all the other States. Such a construction
would, in many instances, be productive of the most
serious public inconveni- ence and injury, particularly, in
regard to those kinds of fish, which, by being exposed
to too general use, may be exhausted. The oyster beds
belonging to a State may be abundantly sufficient for the
use of the citizens of that State, but might be totally
exhausted and destroyed if the legislature could not so
regulate the use of them as to exclude the citizens of
the other States from taking them, except under such
limitations and restrictions as the laws may prescribe. . .
.

Fourthly. . . . The objections to this form of action are

fatal. . . . The "Hiram" then, having been lawfully in
possession of Keene, under a contract of hiring for a
month, which had not expired at the time the alleged
trespass was committed, the action cannot be supported.

Let judgment be entered for the defendant.

Charles J. Inr/ersoll and J. R. Ingersoll, for plaintiffs.

M'Rvaine and Condy, for defendants.1

1 And so McCready v. Va., 94 U. S. 391. See also Conner v. Elliott,

18 How. 591; Paul v. Va., 8 Wall. 168; Ward v. Md., 12 Wall. 418;
Slaughter House Cases, 16 Wall. 36 ; Lemmon v. People, 20 N. Y.
502, 607. — ED.
Source: Cases on Constitutional Law, James Bradley Thayer, 1894,
pp. 453-456

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