he time of the Amistad case, then, slave trade was illegal throughout the United States, but the legality of slave ownership varied from state to state. In New York and Connecticut, the primary states involved in the Amistad case, slavery was illegal.Another issue at hand was salvage. Who lawfully had the right to claim the property of the ship? Salvage is the reward given to persons who voluntarily assist a ship or recover its cargo from impending or actual peril or loss. To make a valid claim of salvage, a claimant must prove: the event involved a ship and its cargo, or things committed to and lost at sea or other public, navigable waterways; the ship or its cargo have been found or rescued; the service performed by claimant must have been of benefit to the property involved in the rescue. A salvor (one who salvages) must have the intent and capacity of committing a salvage, but does not need have the intention of keeping the property. The salvor need not have even given physical assistance to the rescue of the ship or property. Various types of "peril" are allowed. The most common cases involve abandoned ships or ships in danger of sinking. However, as argued by claimants in the Amistad case, the death or disability of the crew, or the seizing of the ship by pirates, can also support a claim for salvage. Typically, a salvage must occur on the seas. As such, the salvage claim by Green and Fordham is peculiar, in that it involved activity committed entirely inland. This leads to the most important point of all. Does the salvaged property include the Africans? In other words, should the Africans be considered slaves and therefore someone's property? In the following quotation from the Supreme Court decision, Justice Story explains why it is not within his jurisdiction to decide whether or not it is moral or ethical to keep people are property. He insists that in the eyes of the law, it is his duty to merely judge whether or not the "a...
