UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

Where a libel was dismissed by the district court, which decree was affirmed by the circuit court, and it appeared that the claim in the libel amounted only to sixteen hundred dollars, an appeal to this Court must, upon motion, be dismissed for the want of jurisdiction.

In order to give jurisdiction, the damages must appear on the face of the pleading on which the claim is made. Interest cannot be added, in computing the amount, unless it is specially claimed in the libel.

It is too late, when the cause has reached this Court, to amend the libel by inserting a special claim for interest. The 24th admiralty rule ought not to be construed to extend to cases where an amendment would give jurisdiction which would not exist without such amendment.

This was a libel filed in the district court for furnishing articles for the steamship Ohio.