The Josefa hazard of the prosecution, and did not intervene 1825. until its successful termination. The law does not mean to encourage that kind of seizure, Segunda. where the captor lays his hand on the subject, and takes it off again. That person is the seizor who informs and prosecutes. If any other person claims a title, he is bound to intervene before the first adjudication, and submit his claim to the decision of the Court." It may be doubted, whether, under the 7th section of the act of Congress, any person can be entitled, as a seizor, except the officers, &c. of the armed vessels, and revenue cutters of the United States. If it be a casus omissus, none of the captors now before the Court are literally within the terms of the act, and the whole of the forfeiture must be to the United States. But, if any are entitled, the Collector is clearly to be preferred. Mr. Justice STORY delivered the opinion of March 18th. the Court. The case of the Josefa Segunda, in which the present controversy had its origin, is reported in the fifth volume of Mr. Wheaton's Reports. It is only necessary to mention, that after the condemnation of the vessel, in the District Court of Louisiana, and before the intervention of the appeal to this Court, the negroes seized on board of her, in pursuance of the act of Congress, and the act of Louisiana, which will be hereafter commented on, were delivered by Mr. Chew, (the a Hargr. Law Tracts, 226, 227. The Josefa 1825. Collector of the Customs,) to the Sheriff of the parish of New-Orleans, to be sold according to Segunda. law; and a few days afterwards a new libel, claiming the property of the negroes, having been filed by the Spanish owners, (which was afterwards dismissed, and on appeal, the dismissal confirmed by this Court,) by consent of all the parties in interest, the negroes were sold by the Sheriff, and the proceeds lodged in the Bank of the United States, subject to the order of the District Court. The question now in contestation respects the manner in which the proceeds of this sale, as well as of the sale of the vessel and effects, are to be distributed, and the parties who are entitled to them. Mr. Roberts, who is an Inspector of the Customs, claims title as the original seizor or captor; Messrs. Gardner, Meade, and Humphrey, make a like claim under a subsequent military seizure made by them; and Mr. Chew, and the Surveyor and Naval Officer of the port of New-Orleans, a like claim as the true and actual captors and seizors, who made the last and only effectual seizure, and prosecuted the same to a final decree of condemnation. Mr. Chew caused the original libel against the vessel to be brought, and though his name is accidentally omitted in it as the officer through whose instrumentality the seizure was made, yet it is admitted, and indeed could not be denied, that he was the sole responsible prosecutor of the suit, until the final condemnation of the vessel, and the final dismissal of the second libel, The Josefa brought by the original Spanish claimants. The 1825. claims of all the other parties now before the Court, adverse to that of Mr. Chew, have inter- Segunda. vened since the final judgment pronounced in the Supreme Court in the cause. The Josefa Segunda was finally condemned under the seventh section of the Slave Trade Act, of the 2d of March, 1807, ch. 77. It will be necessary to refer to the terms of that section at large, because the question here respects as well the distribution of the proceeds of the vessel, (which must be made according to the rules prescribed in that section,) as of the proceeds of the sale of the negroes, who were unlawfully brought into the United States; and, in the progress of the discussion, it will materially aid us in the decision of the latter, to ascertain who, by the construction of that section, are the captors entitled to the distribution of the former. The fourth section of the act of 1807 provides, that "neither the importer, nor any person or persons claiming from or under him, shall hold any right or title whatsoever to any negro, &c. who may be imported or brought within the United States, or territories thereof, in violation of this law; but the same shall remain subject to any regulations, not contravening the provisions of this act, which the Legislatures of the several States or territories, at any time hereafter may make, for disposing of any such negro," &c. Accordingly, the Legislature of Louisiana, on the 13th of March, 1818, passed an act avowedly to meet the exigency of this section, which act, af 1825. ter reciting the substance of the same section, The Josefa proceeds to declare, that the Sheriff of the parish Segunda. of New-Orleans is authorized and required to of the District ceedings. receive any negro, &c. delivered to him in virtue of the act of Congress, until the proper Court pronounces a decree of condemnation; and after such condemnation, it authorizes him to sell such negro, &c. as a slave for life; and then declares, that "the proceeds of such sale shall, after deducting all charges, be paid over by the said Sheriff, one moiety for the use of the commanding officer of the capturing vessel, and the other moiety to the treasurer of the Charity Hospital of New-Orleans, for the use and benefit of the said hospital." There is no doubt that this act is not in contravention of the intention of the act of Congress, for the sixth section contains a proviso, recognising the validity of such a sale, when made under the authority of a State law. Jurisdiction Some objection has been suggested as to the Court over the jurisdiction of the District Court of Louisiana, to present pro-entertain the present proceedings, upon the ground that the distribution is to be made under this act by the Sheriff of New-Orleans. But upon a full consideration of the act of 1807, we are of opinion, that the objection cannot be maintained. By the judiciary act of 1789, as well as by the express provisions of the act of 1807, the District Court has jurisdiction over seizures made under the latter act. The principal proceedings are certainly to be against the vessel, and the goods and effects found on board. But The Josefa the negroes are also to be taken possession of, 1825. for the purpose of being delivered over to the State governments, according to the provision Segunda. of the act; and it is obvious, that this delivery can only be after a condemnation has occurred, since it is only in that event that the State Legislature can acquire any right to dispose of them. The proviso in the seventh section, that the officers to whom a moiety of the proceeds is given on condemnation, shall be so entitled only in case they safely keep and deliver over the negroes according to the laws of the States, operates by way of condition to the completion of their title; but does not import any requirement that the delivery shall be until after the condemnation. On the contrary, as by a decree of restitution of the vessel and effects, the claimants would be entitled to a restitution of the negroes, the reasonable construction seems to be, that they remain subject to the order of the District Court, as property in the custody of the law, though in the actual possession of the seizing officers. The possession of the latter is the possession of the Court, as much in respect to the negroes as the vessel and cargo; and it must remain until the Court, by pronouncing a final decree, directs in what manner it is to be surrendered. In the present case, the negroes were sold, and the proceeds substituted for them were in the custody of the Court. It was, therefore, authorized to deliver them over to the parties who should be entitled, under the State law. In terms, the State law required the delivery to the |