1809-022: John Lynch vs. John Bernard

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Contract suit. The case centered around a group of French-American trading vessels, particularly the vessel La Ville de Bordeaux, which were caught up in the war between France and Great Britain in the 1790s. Ownership was split between John Lynch, an American citizen, and John Bernard, a French citizen, and the issue was further complicated when two unrelated Americans were given control of the ship during the war. This was intended to be a temporay trust to prevent the ship from having to fly French colors and potentially becoming a military target, but the trustees violated their agreement by selling the ship in India without permission.

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