A cause of collisidb, or collision and dam age, as it is technically called, is a suit in rem in the admiralty.
In the United States courts It is commenced by the filing of a libel and the arrest of the vessel to the mismanagement or fault of which the injury is imputed. In the English admiralty the suit is com menced by the arrest of the vessel and the filing of a petition. In England, the judge is usually assisted at the hearing of the cause by two of the Masters or Elder Brethren of Trinity House, or other ex perienced shipmasters, whose opinions upon all questions of professional skill involved in the issue are usually adopted by the court ; 1 W. Rob. 471; 2 id. 225 ; 2 Chit. Geni. Pr. 514.
In the American courts of admiralty, the judge usually decides without the aid or advice of experi enced shipmasters acting as assessors or advisers of the court; but the evidence of such shipmasters, as experts, is sometimes received in reference to questions of professional skill or nautical usage. Such evidence is not, however, admissible to estab lish a usage in direct violation of those general rules of navigation which have been sanctioned and established by repeated decisions; Wheeler v. The Eastern State, 2 Curt. C. C. 141, Fed. Cas. No. 17,494; The Clement, 2 Curt. C. C. 363, Fed. Cas. No. 2,879.
When a party sets up circumstances as the basis of exceptions to the general rules of navigation, he is held to strict proof ; 1 W. Rob. 157, 182, 478 ; 6 Thornt. 607 ; 5 id. 170; 3 Hagg. Adm. 321; and courts of ad miralty lean against such exceptions ; 11 N. Y. Leg. Obs. 353. The admissions of a mas ter of one of the colliding vessels subse quently to the collision are admissible in evidence ; 5 E. L. & Eq. 556 ; and the mas ters and crew are admissible as witnesses ; 2 Dods. 83 ; 2 Hagg. Adm. 145; 3 id. 321,
325 ; 1 Conkl. 384.
The general rules in regard to costs in col lision cases, in the admiralty courts, are that if only one party is to blame, he pays the costs of both ; if neither is to blame, and the party prosecuting had apparent cause for proceeding, each party pays his own costs, but in the absence of apparent or prob able cause the libel will be dismissed with costs ; if both parties are to blame, the coils of both are equally divided, or, more gener ally, each party is left to pay his own costs. But costs in admiralty are always in the discretion of the court, and will be given or withheld in particular cases without regard to these general rules, if the equity of the case requires a departure from them ; 2 W. Rob. 213, 244; 5 Jur. 1067 ; 2 Conkl. 438.
"In ease of coilision on the high seas be tween ships of different nationalities, the general maritime law, as understood and ad ministered in the courts of the country in which the litigation is prosecuted, governs. The Belgenland, 114 U. S. 355, 5 Sup. Ct. 860, 29 L. Ed. 152; In re State Steamship Co., 60 Fed. 1018. This rule is subject to two qualifications: (1) Persons in charge of either ship would not be open blame for following sailing directions and rules of navigation prescribed by their own govern ment ; The Scotia, 14 Wall. [U. S.] 170, 20 L. Ed. 822. (2) If the maritime law, as ad ministered by the nations to which the ships respectively belong, is the same in respect of a particular matter, it will, if duly prov ed, be followed in respect of such matter, though it differ from the maritime law as understood in the country of the litigation; The Scotland, 105 U. S. 24, 26 L. Ed. 1001." Moore's notes to Dicey, Conflict of Laws, 670. See Meili, Internat. Civil and Comm. L. 524.
See FOG; LIEN ; NAVIGATION RULES.