In New York it was held that since in Pennsylvania no right of action for wrong ful death existed in favor of non-resident aliens, upon the principles of comity non residents could not maintain an action in New York and recover for the death of a person in Pennsylvania; Gurofsky v. R. Co., 121 App. Div. 126, 105 N. Y. Stipp. 514. By a treaty between United States and Italy of 1913, non-resident aliens are given a right of action for injury or death caused by negligence or fault, and they enjoy the same rights as are granted to United States citizens, under like conditions.
It was held in The Harrisburg, 119 U. S. 199, 7 Sup. Ct. 140, 30 L. Ed. 358, that no damages can be recovered in admiralty for the death by negligence of a human being on the high seas, or on waters navigable from the seas, in the absence of an act of congress or a state statute. The maritime law, of this country, at least, gives no such right; Butler v. Steamship Co., 130 U. S. 555, 9 Sup. Ct. 612, 32 L. Ed. 1017. It was held that where the law of a state to which a vessel belonged (the law of the domicil or flag) gives a right of action for wrongful death if such death occurred on the high seas, such right of action will be enforced in admiralty as a claim against the fund aris ing in a proceeding to limit liability ; The Hamilton, 207 U. S. 398, 28 Sup. Ct. 133, 52
L. Ed. 264. In La Bourgogne, 210 U. S. 95, Sup. Ct. 664, 52 L. Ed. 973, it was held that the law of France. which recovery for loss of life against a vessel in fault, will be enforced by the courts of the United States in a proceeding to limit liability for claims against a French vessel found to be in fault for a collision in a fog on the high seas, although the French courts, in applying to the facts found the interna tional rule as to the speed of vessels in a fog, had held such vessel not to be in fault. See 21 Harv. L. Rev. 1, as to the enforcement of a right of action acquired under foreign law for death upon the high seas.