The Britannia (1), 1893, is a U.S. Supreme Court case that dealt with maritime law and the liability of ship owners for damages caused by their vessels. The dispute arose when the British vessel "Britannia" collided with the American schooner "A.J. Dewey" off the coast of New Jersey in 1887, resulting in significant damage to both ships but particularly to A.J. Dewey which sank as a result of this collision. The owners of A.J. Dewey filed suit against Britannia's owners seeking compensation for their loss under U.S federal maritime laws which hold shipowners liable for any damage caused by their vessels due to negligence or fault on part of its crew members. However, Britannia's owner argued that they were not responsible because at time of accident it was foggy and visibility was poor making navigation difficult hence it was an unavoidable accident. After hearing arguments from both sides, The Supreme Court ruled in favor of A.J.Dewey’s owner stating that despite weather conditions being unfavorable, there were enough indications like sound signals from other vessel indicating its presence nearby which if properly heeded could have avoided this mishap thus holding Britannic’s owner liable for damages.

In the dissenting opinion for THE BRITANNIA (1), 1893, Justice Brewer argued that the majority's decision to hold a British ship liable for damages caused by its collision with an American vessel was incorrect. He contended that both ships were equally at fault and should share responsibility for the accident. According to him, it was not fair or justifiable under international maritime law to place all blame on one party when both had contributed to causing the mishap. Furthermore, he disagreed with how evidence in this case was interpreted by his colleagues; he believed there were discrepancies and uncertainties which they overlooked while reaching their conclusion. Therefore, according to Justice Brewer’s perspective, justice would have been better served if liability had been apportioned between both parties involved in this unfortunate incident.