Derelict. that a free white person born in this country, of foreign parents, is a citizen of the United States. (Lynch vs. Clarke et al., 1. Sandford Ch. R., p. 583.) I expressed a similar opinion in my letter to you of September 8, 1858. Yours, very respectfully, Hon. LEWIS CASS, Secretary of State. J. S. BLACK. DERELICT. In the case of derelict property, saved under no unusual circumstances, a moiety is the maximum allowance made to the salvors. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, July 26, 1859. SIR: I have examined the correspondence which you have referred to me, in relation to the barque "J. J. Cobb." This vessel was found at sea, abandoned by her crew, near the coast of Cuba, on the 30th of May, 1859, by Captain Symmes, of the American schooner "Cumberland," and is supposed to have landed a cargo of slaves on the island. Captain Symmes took the barque into the port of Havana, where his claim to salvage is undergoing judicial investigation. The American Consul General has asserted the right of the salvors to the whole vessel as derelict property, and you have requested my views on the legality of this claim. It is very clear that it cannot be maintained. One half of the property is as much as any court would award to them under the circumstances. (Kent's Comm., vol. 2, p. 421, in note; the Aquila, 1 Rob. Ad. Rep., 47; the schooner Boston and cargo, 1 Sumner, 336; the Emulous, 1 Sumner, 213, 1 Mason, 372.) But I can see nothing, in the present condition of the case, to call for the interference of this Government. If a similar claim of a Spanish subject were pending in one of our courts, the executive authority could not meddle with Meaning of the Word "Cruise." it. Captain Symmes has selected his own forum; and it is to be presumed that he will obtain his rights. Yours, very respectfully, J. S. BLACK. Hon. LEWIS CASS, Secretary of State. MEANING OF THE WORD "CRUISE." In naval parlance, the word "cruise" means the whole period between the time when a vessel goes to sea and when she returns to the place where her crew is paid off, and she is put out of commission. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, July 27, 1859. SIR: By section three of the naval appropriation bill, approved March 3, 1859, it is provided that certain officers, who had been detached from duty or removed from command, should receive the same pay they were receiving respectively when they were so detached or removed, up to the termination of their cruise, when so detached. Captain Ringgold was in command of the expedition for the survey of Bhering's Straits, North Pacific ocean, and China seas. He was removed, and is entitled to the pay which he was receiving at the time of his removal, up to the termination of the cruise upon which he was then engaged. He left the vessel at Macao, on the 1st of August, 1854. The squadron consisted of the Vincennes, the Fenimore Cooper, and two smaller vessels. The Navy Department ordered Captain Ringgold's successor in the command to leave the Cooper at San Francisco, and to bring the Vincennes to New York. When and where did the cruise terminate? At San Francisco when the Cooper was laid up, or at New York when the Vincennes arrived and was put out of commission? The answer to these questions depends upon the meaning of the word "cruise," and is rather a point of philology than of law. In common parlance, a cruise generally signifies a voy Claim of Colonel Gates. age, and lasts from the departure of a ship until her return. This also is one of the definitions given by lexicographers. Officers of the navy have told me, that when sailors speak of a cruise with reference to its beginning and its end, they always mean the whole period between the time when the vessel goes to sea and when she returns to the place where her crew is paid off and she is put out of commission. Finally, this is the meaning which you yourself have assigned to the word in a letter addressed to the Fourth Auditor upon the case of Lieutenant Abner Read, on the 17th of June last. These authorities would be too much for me to resist, if my opinion were against you. But I think you are right, and therefore I advise that Captain Ringgold's claim be paid. I am, very respectfully, yours, &c., Hon. ISAAC TOUCEY, J. S. BLACK. Secretary of Navy. CLAIM OF COLONEL GATES. An officer on the duty of awaiting further orders is to be regarded as under orders, in the line of duty, and is entitled to commutation for quarters and fuel under the general Army Regulations. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, July 27, 1859. SIR: It appears from the papers of Col. Gates, submitted by you for my opinion, that he, being in command of the third regiment of artillery at New York, on the 3d of April, 1854, received orders to relinquish his command to the junior major, and on the next day he was directed to "await further orders from Washington." No further orders since that time having been given him, he claims commutation for quarters and fuel under the general Army Regulations. Commutation is allowed by Army Regulation No. 974 for quarters, when public quarters are not Dower in an Equity of Redemption. furnished. In my opinion Col. Gates, never having been relieved from the duty of awaiting further orders from Washington, is properly to be regarded as under orders and on duty, and therefore entitled to commutation. He was in the line of duty while awaiting further orders to be given as much as he would have been while executing such further orders, if they had been given. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. S. BLACK. The PRESIDENT. DOWER IN AN EQUITY OF REDEMPTION. Where land has been mortgaged jointly by husband and wife, the wife is dowable of the equity of redemption, after the death of her husband. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, July 27, 1859. SIR: I have examined the papers accompanying your letter, concerning the claim of Mrs. A. S. Rosenthal. Her husband was the owner of Hunting Park, which the United States are now using for the purposes of the Washington Aqueduct. The husband and wife jointly mortgaged the land. Afterwards the husband sold it, in consideration that the purchasers would pay him a certain sum in cash and discharge the mortgage. It is under this sale that the United States got possession of the land. The widow claims her dower. The rule is that, when land has been mortgaged jointly by the husband and wife, the wife is dowable of the equity of redemption after the death of her husband. If the husband conveys the equity of redemption in his lifetime, without being joined by his wife in the deed, her right of dower is, of course, not defeated. It follows therefore that Mrs. Rosenthal, at the time of the death of her husband, had a right of dower in the Drawings for Patents. land to the extent of one third thereof over and above the Drawings accompanying an application for a patent may be signed either by the inventor or by any person he may authorize. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, July 28, 1859. SIR: The question presented by the letter of the Commissioner of Patents of the 11th of July, 1859, has been carefully considered. The 6th section of the patent act of 4th July, 1836, prescribes certain things that shall be done by an inventor "before he shall receive a patent." 1st. He shall deliver a written description of his invention or discovery, &c. 2d. In case of a machine, he shall explain the principles and modes of application by which it may be distinguished. 3d. He shall specify and point out the part, improvement, or combination he claims as his invention. 4th. He shall, furthermore, accompany the whole with a drawing or drawings, and written references, where the nature of the case admits of drawings, &c.-which descriptions and drawings, signed by the inventor and attested by two witnesses, shall be filed in the Patent Office. 5th. He shall, moreover, furnish a model of his invention in all cases which shall admit of representation by model. 6th. The applicant shall make oath or affirmation that he does verily believe that he is the original and first inventor or discoverer of the art, machine, composition, or improvement for which he solicits a patent, &c. (5 Stats. at Large, 119.) The object of the drawing to accompany the written description of an invention, is to illustrate the invention |