SHIPS AND SHIPPING. 



SHU'S AM MIllTINi;. 



purpoM of ragwtntion, a declaration cif ownership i required from the 

 applicant, whom qualification to be the owner of British ahip U 

 thrrrby aaoarUined ; and any ahip tailing under Brituh colours after 

 du>|U*lifil penoo has become one of her owner* U liable to be forfeited 

 and wind into the posse*sioa of the crown. Any penon making a 

 fake declaration a* to the qualification of the applicant, forfeit* all right 

 which he, or tuch applicant if cognisant of the offence, possease* in the 

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A Brituh ahip u supposed in law to be divided into aixty-four iharea. 

 No one can be registered u owner of a fraction of a share ; and no 

 man than thirty -two parson* can be separately registered as owner* of 

 the ahip at one time. Yet a corporate body, no matter how many 

 penoos an member* of it, U registered u one penon : and any five 

 individual* may be regiitend jointly for the name (hare or share*, BO 

 a* to count for one penon on the regirter and no more. If six indi- 

 Tidual* therefore were to purchase one (hare, no more than five could 

 appear on the rejrirter ; the *ixth would be a beneficial owner only, 

 and for the purpose* of tranafer must apply to the five in whom the 

 title i* retted. Upon registration of a ship being completed, a certifi- 

 cate of registry i* given, indorsed with the particulars on the register ; 

 but instead of being, a* it was before, the document of title to the 

 hip, it i* now no more than i* implied in the name, a certificate that 

 the ve*el is British-owned and registered, and as such is to remain 

 in the keeping of the master for the purposes of the navigation of the 



The document of title is now the register ; all who appear on that 

 book a* owners continue to retain the title so declared to be in them 

 as long as they are Buffered to remain there, with full power to convey 

 title to any other, and to give valid and effectual receipts for the price. 

 It i* not therefore the execution of the authorised bill of sale that 

 secures the property to a purchaser; that bill of sale must be 

 registered, and the burden of that duty is imposed on the most willing 

 shoulden connected with the transaction, namely, those of the buyer 



Mortgage* of the ship, or any shares of it, are also allowed to be 

 registered, but not trusts or any notice of them. Now as this important 

 book is entirely local, and the necessities of trade might often require 

 the sale or mortgage of the vessel to be effected in a foreign country, 

 or at a distant port in her majesty's dominions, some contrivance was 

 necessary for placing the contents of the register in all their integrity 

 and legal effect before the eyes of the intending purchaser or lender 

 at a distance. This is effected by means of a certificate of sale, or a 

 certificate of mortgage, which is issued upon application by the 

 registrar, containing an exact copy of the details on the register as they 

 appear at the moment of issue. The purchaser or lender is thereby 

 informed of the exact state of the title which is offered, and how far 

 the property is already burdened, if burdened at all. By indorsement 

 on this certificate his title is secured to him, as effectually, and with 

 the same consequences, as if it had been placed on the register at 

 the time when the certificate was granted ; and the mortgage takes 

 rank before all other mortgages effected after the issue of the certificate, 

 and not effected by means of it. 



Title by Capture. Title by capture is an acquisition that cannot be 

 made except during war ; for capture is the exercise of a belligerent 

 right. But even when exercised during the existence of a war, no 

 more than an inchoate right of property in the captured ship is vested 

 until the capture is succeeded by condemnation in accordance with the 

 principles of the law of nations by a court of competent jurisdiction, 

 sitting by authority of the sovereign of the captors, either in the 

 country to which they belong or in that of an ally in the war. The 

 Teasel at the time of condemnation must be lying in a port of that 

 sovereign, or of such ally ; for condemnation of her whilst lying in the 

 port of a neutral country, except under very peculiar circumstances, is, 

 according to the English law, a nullity ; but the law of the United 

 States appears to differ in that respect, and to have the support of 

 continental practice during the wars at least that followed the first 

 French revolution. 



Forfeiture of Ntip Property. Any disqualified person improperly 

 obtaining and continuing to hold shares in a British registered ship, 

 forfeits his shares in consequence ; and any ship owned wholly or in 

 part by a person who is disqualified under the law of this country, 

 which assumes the British flag, except for the mere purpose of escaping 

 capture by an enemy, is forfeited to the crown. -If any master, for 

 the purposes of his ship, use a British certificate of registry which has 

 not been legally granted in respect of that vessel, he U himself guilty 

 of a misdemeanor, and the ship is thereby forfeited. If anything is 

 done or permitted by the master or owner of a British ship with intent 

 to conceal her Brituh character from any person entitled by British 

 law to inquire into the same or with intent to assume a foreign cha- 

 racteror with intent to deceive any person entitled to inquire into 

 her national character whilst making such inquiry, and in respect 

 thereof, the ship U thereby forfeited. These forfeitures are authorised 

 by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854. By the Passengers Act of 

 1865 (18 * 19 Viet c. 119) it is enacted that any vessel clearing out 

 to sea without the requisite bond being first executed by the master, 

 or without the requisite certificate of clearance being first obtained, is 

 forfeited to the crown in consequence. 



Legal Kiyhtt of Part-oicncrt.U the ownership of a vessel acquired 



originally in one or other of these way* i* not vested in a cinjjle jierson, 

 the several owner*, considered a* among themselves ami nut in i 

 to the register, may hold the vessel in partnership. This, bowrvrr. IK 

 Terr seldom the caw. Usually they are part-owners merely, and as 

 such have no authority by law, any one of them, to bind the rest by 

 his contracts on account of the ship. But if they agree to undertake a 

 trading adventure with the vessel, although they still remain as before, 

 mere part-owners in respect of the hull of the ship, they are partner* 

 in the adventure. They are bound to contribute in that case to the 

 expense of the outfit, as being in the nature of capital for the enter- 

 prise ; and they are entitled to an account at the end of the voyage 

 when the adventure is finished. 



The majority in value of the owners of a vessel being authorised by 

 the English law to employ the ship "upon any probable design," are 

 only entitled to do so upon giving security to the minority in a sum 

 equal in value to the united shares of the latter. The mode of obtain- 

 ing this security is by procuring a warrant from the court of admiralty 

 for the arrest of the ship. After the security has been given, the 

 minority do not share either in the expenses or profits of the adven- 

 ture. If no application of this kind is made to the court, the minority 

 ought expressly to give notice of their dissent both to their co-owners 

 and all other parties engaged in the proceedings, and they will then be 

 relieved from the necessity of contributing in case of a loss. If they 

 take no steps of the kind, their co-owners, as in the case of any other 

 chattel possessed in common, will not be responsible to them for any 

 consequences short of an absolute destruction by their means of the 

 liip. The same proceedings are proper to be taken where the co- 

 owners are equally divided in opinion, or the minority have obtained 

 possession of the ship. The application for the arrest should be made 

 at the earliest stage of the proceedings, because otherwise the applicant 

 will be held liable to contribute to the previous expenses although he 

 will receive no part of the profits, or even have his application to the 

 court altogether refused. 



Agents of the Owneri. For the purpose of managing the ship it is 

 very usual for the owners to concur in appointing an agent who is 

 known to the world thereafter as ship's husband. His powers are very 

 large, considered in the light of the duty for which he is appointed, 

 which is to attend to all matters connected with the outfit and freight- 

 ing of the ship. It is not, however, within the limit.- of his authority 

 to effect an insurance. If he make any advances, he can sue those 

 part-owners on whose behalf the advances are made for what is due to 

 him. In case of disagreement among the part-owners as to the settle- 

 ment of accounts concerning the expenses and earnings of a ship, the 

 ordinary remedy is by a suit in equity. 



Another agent who is endowed with very extensive power under 

 certain circumstances to bind the owners by his contract, is the master 

 of the ship. He has power to bind the owners by entering into 

 engagements with third parties relative to the employment of the ship. 

 Such engagements are of two kinds : 1. A contract by which the 

 whole ship is let to hire during an entire voyage, which may be accom- 

 plished by a charter-party under seal, or by memorandum of charter- 

 party not under seal. 2. A contract with distinct persons to convey 

 the goods of each, in which case the ship is called a general ship. Such 

 contracts made by the master, being within the lawful scope of his 

 employment, are legally considered to be made by the owners who 

 employ him ; and in either case they or the master are liable in respect 

 of these contracts. If the charter-party is made under seal and in the 

 name of the master only, it will not support a direct action upon it 

 against the owners. Still if the contract is duly made, that is, within 

 the usual employment of the master, and under such circumstances as 

 afford either direct proof of authority or evidence from which such 

 authority may be inferred, the owners may be made responsible either 

 by a special action on the case or by a suit in equity. But the master 

 cannot be assumed to have a power to annul an express contract 

 entered into by the owners themselves and to form a fresh contract 

 with other parties. 



Besides this power which the master has to bind the owners by his 

 contracts relative to the lading of the ship, he has also authority to 

 render them liable for repairs done and provisions and other things 

 furnished for her use, or for the money which he has expended for 

 such purposes, if they were necessary. In this case also the remedy of 

 the creditor is against the master, unless by express contract he be 

 exempted, and also against the owners. If the contract is made by the 

 owners themselves, they alone are liable. The English law does not 

 follow the rule of the civil law, by which a party who had repaired or 

 furnished a ship had a claim on the ship itself in preference to all 

 other creditors. A party who has done repairs upon a ship has a 

 right to retain the possession of it until his demands are paid ; but if 

 he gives up possession, he is on the same footing as other creditors. 

 Where repairs have been done, or necessaries siipplinl to a ship, the 

 legal owners, although there be proof of their title to the ship, are not 

 on that ground presumed to be liable. There is no presumption of 

 law upon the subject ; the matter is altogether a question of evidence ; 

 and the question to bo decided, in order to determine the liability, is 

 upon whose credit the work was done or the necessaries supplied. If a 

 ship is let out for hire, the owners are no more liable for the work done 

 by order of the hirers, than a landlord of a house would be for work 

 done by order of his tenant. Analogous observations arc applicable 



