This seems to have come fully formed in the last week or so. I’ve been looking via google for “george washington” plus “insurance” plus “seamen” prior to March 15, 2012 and find absolutely nothing.
You’d think that a Perry Mason “fact” like this would have existed at some point in the last two or three years and been brought up at the SC. I too call BS, and look forward to the inevitable debunking that it wasn’t actually a law, or it was in fact a directive by General (not President) George Washington, or something like that.
Oops, I didn’t go back far enough. He wrote something like this back in January. Still, I find it odd that nobody brought it up at the SC — unless, as many have posted earlier, it isn’t really precedent and therefore would have been quickly shot down.
It was, in fact, a law passed by Congress #1.
But, it applied only to seamen while at sea, and was essentially a requirement that the ship owners were responsible for the health and safety of their crews. It also mandated a certain amount of food and water be available per crewman. So, by their reasoning, my employer can be mandated to provide my lunch everday....