## Facts

- A Spanish schooner, *La Amistad*, departed Havana for another Cuban port in 1839 carrying Captain Ramon Ferrer, Spanish subjects José Ruiz and Pedro Montez, and a group of Africans whom Ruiz and Montez claimed as enslaved persons under Cuban passes.
- The Africans had been abducted in West Africa and transported to Cuba through an illegal transatlantic slave-trading voyage, contrary to Spanish prohibitions on that trade.
- During the voyage, the Africans rose up, killed the captain, and took control of the vessel, seeking to return to Africa while the surviving Spaniards attempted to steer toward the United States.
- A U.S. naval officer discovered the schooner near Long Island, seized the vessel and Africans, and brought them to Connecticut.
- Salvage libels were filed in admiralty by the officer and others; Ruiz and Montez asserted ownership of the Africans and parts of the cargo; the United States filed a libel asserting Spain’s diplomatic demand for restoration of the vessel, cargo, and alleged slaves.
- The district court concluded the Africans were free and ordered they be delivered to the President for return to Africa; the circuit court affirmed.
- The United States appealed to the Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether the Africans were lawfully enslaved “property” under Spanish law or free persons illegally kidnapped and imported.
2. Whether U.S. treaty obligations toward Spain required restoring the vessel, cargo, and Africans to Spanish claimants or the Spanish government.
3. Whether the Africans’ seizure of the vessel could be treated as criminal conduct requiring surrender to Spain.
4. Whether, and to what extent, salvage awards could attach to the vessel, cargo, and the Africans.

## Decision

- The Court held the Africans were free persons because they were unlawfully kidnapped and imported in violation of Spanish law banning the international slave trade.
- The Court rejected treaty-based demands to surrender the Africans as property, because the necessary predicate—lawful property status—was not proven.
- The Court directed that the Africans be released from custody; they could not be delivered to Spain as property or as offenders under the asserted treaty theories.
- The Court recognized salvage principles as to the vessel and lawful cargo and remanded for further proceedings concerning salvage amounts.
- Justice Story authored the Court’s opinion; there was a dissent, and one Justice did not participate.

## Legal Principles

- Treaty protections for foreign “property” apply only when claimants prove the facts necessary to trigger the treaty obligation; the burden of proof rests on the party invoking the treaty.
- Courts will not treat persons as chattel property when the asserted ownership depends on an unlawful slave trade under the governing foreign law.
- Where individuals are unlawfully restrained as enslaved persons, they may be treated as entitled to liberty rather than as property subject to restitution demands.
- Admiralty salvage may be awarded for rescuing vessels and lawful cargo, but free persons are not salvageable property.

## Conclusion

The Court concluded the Africans were unlawfully enslaved and therefore free, held that treaties with Spain did not compel their surrender as property, ordered their release, and remanded only for determination of salvage awards on the vessel and lawful cargo.


United States v. Libellants & Claimants of the Schooner Amistad, 40 U.S. (15 Pet.) 518 (1841)