The Admiral incompetent to judge in an action for exhibition of bonds granted to a factor in Scotland for the price of goods sent to him from abroad to be sold here, as not being a maritime cause.
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Mr Chiesly having employed Alexander Piper, as factor, to sell a cargo of Spanish wine and fruits in Scotland, which were to be bought and shipped by Chiesly and Mr Graham; the said Graham convened Mr Piper before the Admiralty Court for exhibiting of bonds taken by him from the merchants he had sold the wines and fruits to, or otherwise to pay a great sum to the pursuer as a partner in these goods.
The Lords advocated the cause from the Admiral, as not being maritime; because an exhibition of writs, granted for the price of goods sent from abroad to a factor in Scotland, to be sold there, is no more a sea-faring cause, than the sending letters about business by a Council post, could drag the party employed before the Council. Because, the nature of a contract is to be judged from the place in which it is to receive execution, without respect to the manner of sending the commission for that effect, or to the condition of the bearer of the commission; and 'tis as absurd for the Admiral to judge in this affair, as to set up a privative claim to cognosce all factor accounts.
