Countouraris v The Ship Hydroussa

• Jurisdiction: Guyana
• Judgment Date: 03 August 1943
• Date: 03 August 1943
• Docket Number: Case No. 78
• Court: Supreme Court (British Guiana)

British Guiana, Supreme Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction).

(Duke, J., acting.)

Case No. 78

Countouraris

and

The Ship Hydroussa.

Belligerent Occupation — Miscellaneous — Relevance of, in Relation to the Jurisdiction of Foreign Courts — Action brought by Greek Seaman against Greek Ship in British Guiana.

Consuls — Functions of — Action in rem against Foreign Ship for Unpaid Wages of Foreign Seamen — Service of Notice on Consular Officer of State to which Ship Belongs — Consular Officer not Resident within Jurisdiction — Action brought by Greek Seaman before Admiralty Court in British Guiana — Relevance of Occupation of Greece by Enemy Forces.

The Facts.—This was an action brought by one Countouraris against the ship Hydroussa for wages as a seaman. The plaintiff was a Greek citizen and the defendant a Greek ship. No Greek consul was resident within the jurisdiction of the Court and notice of the proceedings had not been given to any Greek consul. It was argued that for this reason the Court had no jurisdiction.

Held: that the Court had jurisdiction, which was discretionary, and exercising that discretion in favour of the plaintiff the Court would allow the action to proceed. The Court said:

“Prior to the year 1859, where an action was brought by a seaman against a foreign ship for wages, it was the practice of the Court of Admiralty in England to require notice of the intended proceedings to be served upon the consular officer of the State to which the ship proceeded against belongs, and of allowing the cause to proceed as of course if no protest be made: see The Golubchick (1840), 1 W. Robinson's Admiralty Reports, 143, 154, and The OctavieENR (1863), Browning & Lushington, 215.

“The practice of the Admiralty Court previously referred to was incorporated in rule 10 of the Admiralty Court Rules, 1859, which prescribed that ‘in a wages cause against a foreign vessel notice of the institution of the cause shall be given to the consul of the State to which the vessel belongs, if there be one resident in London; and a copy of the notice shall be annexed to the affidavit’ leading to the warrant for the arrest of the ship proceeded against. The notice to the consul was given in accordance with the comity of nations, and in order to afford the consul the opportunity of objecting, if he thought fit, to the action being entertained in the English Court of Admiralty and of stating his reasons therefor. A court of Admiralty in England would, ordinarily, not entertain...