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United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts - 8 F. 159
Tags: Property, Possession
See also: Pierson v. Post
tl;dr:
A fisherman who killed a whale had established possession over it, even though he did not take immediate physical control over the animal. The local custom required the finder to return the animal to the fisherman who killed it.Video Summary
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The case concerns a dispute over the ownership of a whale that was killed with a bomb-lance in Massachusetts bay. The plaintiff claims ownership based on the local custom that the person who kills and takes possession of a whale owns it. The defendant, who purchased the whale from a third party who found it stranded on a beach, argues that this custom is invalid. The validity of the custom that whoever finds a whale adrift in the ocean automatically owns it is doubtful. The case raises questions about the rights of the finder and the owner of a stranded whale. The court has established that ownership of a whale is only established once someone takes firm possession of it. However, a custom among whalemen in the Arctic seas, where the first iron to strike a whale holds it, has been deemed reasonable and valid. Judge Sprague confirmed that a custom that encompasses an entire business and has been followed by everyone engaged in the trade for a long time should not be set aside by local usages of a particular port or the general maritime law.
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