SK,U.1XG-\VAX. 



br.Ancii, RIGHT oi<\ 



428 



munf, common seal ; siyillttm secrctum, privy seal ; contmsiyillum, 

 counterseaL The early French seals have invocations, as Christe 

 prottyt, Pipfi'tHum, Regem, " God save king Pepin." 



In England, the seals of conveying parties are now essential to all 

 legal instruments whereby real estate is conveyed. The law recognises 

 three royal seals, the great seal in custody of the chancellor, attached 

 t<j all letters patent, grants of inheritance, or chattels real, offices in fee 

 and writs at common law, the privy seal kept by the Lord Keeper, 

 valid for the issue of treasure, disposition of chattels, contracting or 

 discharging a debt ; the signet, or privy signet in custody of the prin- 

 cipal secretaries of state, valid as authenticating the sign manual, and 

 for the writ ne exeat regno. The counter signature of a principal 

 secretary of state is required by a statute for the use of all the seals. 

 (Comyn, ' Digest,' Patent ; Coke upon Littleton, by Hargrave and 

 Thomas, ii. 233.) 



Among oriental nations seals have been employed as a stamp. The 

 Chinese great seal called se dates from the Tsin dynasty, B.C. 248, 

 under whom they were square : under the Han dynasty they became 

 circular. Other seals yin are generally square and made of gold, silver, 

 copper, crystal, porcelain, steatite, wood, and other substances, of tall 

 rectangular shape, surmounted by figures of lions, apes, dragons, and 

 other animals. They generally have mottoes or sentences from 

 Chinese classical authors, and impressions in various coloured inks are 

 stamped in important places on commercial and public documents, 

 books, and papers. The Arabs and Indians, from the earliest times, 

 have used metal seals and gems to impress by means of black ink 

 impressions' on their books and other documents ; only wax has, how- 

 ever, been used in modern times. 



The study of seals is one of the most important in archaeology; 

 after the fall of the Roman Empire they replace the loss of gerna 

 and show the state of the glyphic art ; of architectural progress ; of 

 iao symbolism till the present day ; at the same time throning 

 great light on the history of states and families, their heraldic devices 

 and genealogy. 



Mabillon, De re diplomatic^, fo. Par. 1681 ; the Benedictina' Traltt 

 <le diplomatique, 4to Par., 1759 ; De Wailly, Him utt de Palaographie, 

 4to, Paris, 1858, vol. ii. ; Trai-aux de la SoctiU Sphrag'utiqut de 

 farit, 1852 ; Proceedinai of the ArcliavlogiccU Iiutitute. London, 

 1836-B1. 



SKALING-WAX. The best red sealing- wax is composed of shell- 

 lac, Venice turpentine, and cinnabar. The shell-lac by itself is rather 

 too brittle, and the turpentine is added to remedy that defect. The 

 proportions are about four parts of lac, one part of turpentine, and 

 three parts of cinnabar, by weight. When the lac and turpentine are 

 melted, the cinnabar i* added in powder, and the whole is well mixed 

 by stirring it about. The round sticks of sealing-wax are made by 

 hand on a smooth slab of marble or plate of metal, which is kept at a 

 moderate temperature by a brazier placed beneath it. The li<(iii<l 

 sealing-wax having been partially cooled, a quantity sufficient to make 

 about six sticks is rolled out on the slab or plate into one long stick ; 

 which, when of proper diameter, U cut into lengths, and transferred to 

 another workman, by whom the sticks are rolled on a cold slab 

 beneath a smooth piece of wood or metal. The sticks are now polished, 

 which is done by holding them successively between two contiguous 

 charcoal Bres till the surface is fused, which produces the polish. One 

 end is then softened by being brought near the flame of a lamp, in 

 order to receive the impression of the maker's name. Thin manipu- 

 lating process is only applied to the round sticks ; those which are 

 oval and ornamented are formed by pouring the liquid sealing-wax 

 into a mould ; when partly cooled, the sticks are removed to another 

 mould mode of steel, out of which they are taken polished and fit 

 for use. 



For the best black sealing-wax, the finest ivory-black is substituted 

 f..r the cinnabar. For sealing-wax of inferior quality, not only the 

 darker-coloured shell-lac is used, but other resins of less value, com- 

 mon turpentines, and mixtures of cinnabar and red lead, or sometimes 

 red lead alone ; and lamp-black is used instead of ivory-black. Other 

 colours are given to sealing-wax by mixing with it, for the most part, 

 different metallic oxides. 



The softer wax, which was formerly in general use for sealing letters 

 and legal document*, and which is still occasionally used for the latter 

 purpose, consists of about four parts of beea'-wax, one part of Venice 

 turpentine, and as much cinnabar or other colouring material as is 

 required to give it the tint which is preferred. 

 \ MEN. [Snips.] 



SEARCH, RIGHT OF. The general principles upon which that 

 part of the law of nations in constructed which respects the usages to 

 be observed towards neutral powers in time of war by the belligerent 

 power*, have been explained under the head of BLOCKADE. Here it is 

 only necessary further to remark that manifestly no other right 

 can be exercised by the belligerent over the ships of the neutral 

 without the right of visitation and search. The existence of that 

 right, accordingly, to use Lord Stowell's language in the well-known 

 ca*e of the Maria (1 Robinson, 340), is acknowledged beyond all con- 

 troversy aa attaching to the lawfully commissioned cruisers of the 

 belligerent nations, whose rights cannot legally be varied by the inter- 

 position, in any manner of mere force, of the authority of the sovereign 

 of the neutral country : a right that is as reasonable as it is necessary, 



for, as his lordship says, " Till they are visited and searched, it does 

 not appear what the ships, or the cargoes, or the destinations are ; and 

 it is for the purpose of ascertaining these points that the necessity of 

 this right of visitation and search exists." 



In the exercise of the right of search upon a neutral vessel, which 

 must be conducted with as much regard to the rights and safety 

 of the vessel detained as is consistent with a thorough examination 

 of her character and voyage (the Anna Maria, 2 Wharton's (Amer.) 

 Rep. 332), the first and principal object of inquiry is generally 

 the ship's papers. These are, the passport from the neutral state 

 to the captain or master; the sea letter, or sea brief, specifying 

 the nature and quantity of the cargo ; the proofs of property ; the 

 muster-roll of the crew, containing the name, age, rank or quality, 

 place of residence, and place of birth of each of the ship's company ; 

 the charter party ; the bill of lading ; the invoices ; the log-book ; and 

 the bill of health. (Abbott, ' On Shipping,' 9th edit. , 288.) Upon the 

 subject of the ship's documents, it should be observed, that if she is 

 not properly documented, or if there has been a spoliation of papers, 

 and other signs of bad faith, these are grounds of unfavourable pre- 

 sumption, the effect of which is not to be avoided except by clear and 

 satisfactory evidence to the contrary. (M'Lachlan, ' Law of Merchant 

 Shipping," p. 481 .) 



The penalty for the violent contravention of the right of visitation 

 and search, is the confiscation of the ship and cargo ; and a rescue by 

 the crew after the captors are in actual possession is considered as the 

 same thing with a forcible prevention. In either case the resisting 

 ship may be seized in the same manner as if it belonged to the enemy, 

 and, being brought into port, will be condemned as prize. 



Of course, any of the belligerent powers may agree with any of the 

 neutral states that the right of search shall only be exercised in certain 

 circumstances ; and tlya is the first limitation that falls to be noticed. 

 " Two sovereigns," Lord Stowell has said in the same judgment, " may 

 unquestionably agree, if they think fit, as in some late instances they 

 have agreed, by special covenant, that the presence of one of their 

 armed ships along with their merchant-ships shall be mutually under- 

 stood to imply that nothing is to be found in that convoy of merchants' 

 ships inconsistent with amity or neutrality ; and, if they consent to 

 accept this pledge, no third party has a right to quarrel with it, any 

 more than with any other pledge which they may agree mutually to 

 accept. But surely no sovereign can legally compel the acceptance of 

 such a security by mere force. The only security known to the Law 

 of Nations upon this subject, independent of all special covenant, is 

 the right of personal visitation and search, to be exercised by those 

 who have the interest in making it." Lord Stowell here alludes to the 

 pretensions of the northern powers in their convention for the 

 establishment of what was called an armed neutrality in 1800, one of 

 the clauses of which was, " That the declaration of the officers who 

 shall command the ship of war, or ships of war, of the king or emperor, 

 which shall be convoying one or more merchant-ships, that the convoy 

 has no contraband goods on board shall be sufficient; and that no 

 search of his ship, or the other ships of the convoy, shall be permitted." 

 It is sometimes stated that this was also one of the principles of the 

 previous convention of the same kind formed by the northern powers 

 in 1780 ; and there may perhaps have been an understanding among 

 the contracting parties to that effect ; but we do not find it distinctly 

 avowed in any of their published announcements. The position in 

 question, namely, that the presence of a ship of war should protect 

 from search the merchantmen under its convoy, never has been admitted 

 by Great Britain. 



But it is now universally admitted that the right of visitation and 

 search cannot be exercised upon a ship of war, or public or national 

 vessel, itself ; and this is the second limitation of the right. It is strange 

 that there should ever have been any doubt or dispute upon this point. 

 A ship of war has always been looked upon as in a manner part of the 

 national territory, and as such inviolable in any circumstances what- 

 ever ; the act of entering it in search either of contraband goods or of 

 deserters must be considered as an act of the same character with that 

 of pursuing a smuggler or fugitive across the frontier of the state 

 without permission of the sovereign authority, a thing the right of 

 doing which has never been claimed. Accordingly, although it has 

 been a common thing for nations to declare by express stipulation in 

 their treaties with one another that the prize courts in each shall 

 exercise a jurisdiction according to the recognised principles of public 

 law in questions arising with regard to captures at sea, the language 

 used has always implied that the captures are to be merchant or 

 private vessels : of the concession by one power to another of the right 

 of adjudicating upon its ships of war detained or brought into port not 

 a trace is to be found in any such treaty. Yet an opposite doctrine 

 has been both maintained in argument, and attempted to be cai-rird 

 into effect. In 1653, when after the disasters of the war with 

 England thnt had broken out in the preceding year, the Dutch were 

 reduced to such a state as to make them anxious for peace upon almost 

 any terms, the English government demanded aa one of the stipula- 

 tions of the proposed treaty that all Dutch vessels, both of war and 

 others, should submit to be visited, if thereto required. But, humbled 

 as the Dutch were, they peremptorily refused to agree to any such 

 stipulation ; and the treaty was concluded in 1654 without it. From 

 this time, for more than a century and a half, the principle of the 



