Also known as: ports · harbor · port of entry
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A harbor or designated facility where vessels load and unload cargo. A port also serves as a place of entry for persons and goods into a country where customs officials exercise supervision.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Pablo Perez operates a shipping line that regularly calls at terminals in two neighboring states. State A enacts a rule requiring all vessels arriving from foreign waters to pay an additional clearance fee only when docking at State B's main port. The fee structure channels traffic toward State A's own facilities and increases costs for Perez's operations at the disfavored location.
Philip Powell brings a firearm to a warehouse near the port where his employer receives international shipments. Federal agents charge him under the Gun-Free School Zones Act. Powell moves to dismiss, arguing that Congress lacked authority to regulate possession at this commercial port facility far from any school.
Pilar Pena purchases a ticket for a voyage departing from a Florida port. The ticket contains a clause requiring all disputes to be litigated in Washington state. After an injury aboard, Pena sues in Florida and contends the forum-selection provision is unreasonable because the port of departure and her residence are both in Florida.
Pinnacle Holdings owns a historic terminal building at the city's main port. The city landmarks the structure and bars any vertical expansion. Pinnacle claims the restriction prevents economically viable use of its air rights above the terminal and seeks compensation for the alleged taking.
Paige Porter owns waterfront land adjacent to a small commercial port. The coastal commission conditions a building permit on Porter granting a public easement across her property to reach the port's beach. Porter challenges the condition as lacking an essential nexus to any port-related impact.
Patricia Patel's tug is maneuvering a barge into a crowded port slip when the lines part. The drifting barge strikes Precision Tools' docked vessel. Precision Tools sues, alleging the tug owner failed to post adequate lookouts or maintain proper mooring lines given the confined port conditions.
A free port lies outside a country's customs frontier. Goods may enter and leave without payment of import duties or undergoing standard customs procedures.
Supporting sources
The Constitution prohibits any regulation of commerce or revenue that gives preference to the ports of one state over those of another. It also bars requiring vessels bound to or from one state to enter, clear, or pay duties in another state.
Supporting sources
Yes. The same facility may function as a harbor for loading and unloading cargo while also operating as the official point where persons and goods are admitted into the country under customs supervision.
Supporting sources
…256 (1946) (“air rights” taken by low-flying airplanes); Griggs v. Allegheny County , 369 U. S. 84 (1962) (same); Portsmouth Harbor Land & Hotel Co. v. United States , 260 U. S. 327 (1922) (firing of projectiles over summer resort can constitute taking). See also Butler v. Frontier Telephone Co. , 186 N. Y. 486, 79…