Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial ProcedureRelease 119-102

§1333 Admiralty, Maritime and Prize Cases

Title 28 › PART IV — JURISDICTION AND VENUE › CHAPTER 85 — DISTRICT COURTS; JURISDICTION › § 1333

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Federal district courts are the only courts that can first hear civil admiralty or maritime cases and cases about prize (captured property brought into the United States). People who bring these cases still keep any other legal remedies they would otherwise have.

Full Legal Text

Title 28, §1333

Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The district courts shall have original jurisdiction, exclusive of the courts of the States, of: (1)
(2)Any prize brought into the United States and all proceedings for the condemnation of property taken as prize.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

1948 ActBased on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§ 41(3) and 371 (3), (4) (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §§ 24, par. 3, 256, pars. 3, 4, 36 Stat. 1091, 1160; Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 97, §§ 1, 2, 40 Stat. 395; June 10, 1922, ch. 216, §§ 1, 2, 42 Stat. 634). Section consolidates certain provisions of section 41(3), 371(3) and 371(4) of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed. Other provisions of section 41(3) and 371(4), relating to seizures, are incorporated in section 1356 of this title. (See reviser’s note thereunder.) The “saving to suitors” clause in section 41(3) and 371(3) of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., was changed by substituting the words “any other remedy to which he is otherwise entitled” for the words “the right of a common law remedy where the common law is competent to give it.” The substituted language is simpler and more expressive of the original intent of Congress and is in conformity with Rule 2 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure abolishing the distinction between law and equity. Provisions of section 41(3) of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., based on the 1917 and 1922

Amendments

, relating to remedies under State workmen’s compensation laws, were deleted. Such

Amendments

were held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. (See Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Stewart, 1920, 40 S.Ct. 438, 253 U.S. 149, 64 L.Ed. 834, and State of Washington v. W. C. Dawson & Co., 1924, 44 S.Ct. 302, 264 U.S. 219, 68 L.Ed. 646.) Words “libellant or petitioner” were substituted for “suitors” to describe moving party in admiralty cases. Changes were made in phraseology. 1949 ActThis section amends section 1333(a)(1) of title 28, U.S.C., by substituting “suitors” for “libellant or petitioner” to conform to the language of the law in existence at the time of the enactment of the revision of title 28.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1949—Subd. (1). Act May 24, 1949, substituted “suitors” for “libellant or petitioner”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

28 U.S.C. § 1333

Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102