N. V. Stoomvaart Mattschaippij Nederland v. United States

This action was brought by the owner and operator of the Dutch motorship Manoeran on account of damages suffered by that vessel in a collision with the American cruiser Marblehead on August 16, 1936. The action is brought under the terms of an Act of Congress passed March 3, 1925 (43 Stat. p. 1112, 46 U.S.C.A. § 781 ).

A stipulation for settlement of the case and for entry of a decree for part of the damages has been submitted to me, provided that I find that an American citizen could sue the Kingdom of Holland in a like case. The Act of March 3, 1925, under which the suit was brought, requires the national of a foreign government, who sues the United States for damages caused by one of its public vessels, to show to the satisfaction of the court that the foreign government “under similar circumstances, allows nationals of the United States to sue in its courts.” ( 46 U.S.C.A. § 785 ).

By stipulation, correspondence between the United States Department of State and the Minister of the Netherlands at Washington has been presented to me as evidence of the foreign law. In it there appears an authoritative statement by a qualified barrister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that…