666
Opinion of the Court
waiver of sovereign immunity, in contrast to the next section of the Suits in Admiralty Act, 46 U. S. C. App. § 743, which governs "procedure," specifying in its first sentence: "Such suits shall proceed and shall be heard and determined according to the principles of law and to the rules of practice obtaining in like cases between private parties." See Brief for United States 26-27; see also Holmberg, 19 F. 3d, at 1064; Libby v. United States, 840 F. 2d 818, 820 (CA11 1988) ("The fact that the waiver of sovereign immunity is declared in section 742, while the procedures governing admiralty suits against the United States are specified in section 743, indicates that the requirements contained in section 742 are more than procedural."). The dissent adopts this argument hook, line, and sinker. See post, at 674-675 (finding key to text and structure of the Suits in Admiralty Act in Congress' placement of service requirement in § 2 (46 U. S. C. App. § 742) rather than § 3 (46 U. S. C. App. § 743)). But just as § 743 is not "purely procedural," for it waives the Sovereign's immunity as to costs and interest, so § 742 is not pervasively "jurisdictional."
The sentence immediately following § 742's broad waiver, and immediately preceding the sentence on service, reads:
"Such suits shall be brought in the district court of the United States for the district in which the parties so suing, or any of them, reside or have their principal place of business in the United States, or in which the vessel . . . charged with liability is found."
This notably generous-to-plaintiffs provision will be recognized instantly as one describing venue choices, not subject-matter jurisdiction. Cf. 28 U. S. C. § 1391 ("Venue generally").
Section 742's final sentence provides:
"Upon application of either party the cause may, in the discretion of the court, be transferred to any other district court of the United States."
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