1166 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



The legislature of the province of Nova Scotia passed an Act in 

 1836 containing, amongst others, the following provisions, which are 

 found at pp. 120 and 122 of the Appendix to the Case of the United 

 States. Section IV is found at p. 120 of the Appendix to the Case 

 of the United States : 



" IV. And be it further enacted, That all goods, ships, vessels, 

 boats or other thing, which shall have been condemned as forfeited 

 under this act, shall, under the direction of the principal officer of 

 the customs or excise where such seizures shall have been secured, 

 be sold by public auction to the best bidder, and the produce of such 

 sale shall be applied as follows, that is to say : the amount chargeable 

 for the custody of said goods, ship, vessel, boat or any other thing 

 so seized as aforesaid, shall be first deducted and paid, and the resi- 

 due divided into two equal moieties, one of which shall be paid to 

 the officer or other person or persons legally seizing the same, with- 

 out deduction, and the other moiety to the government, and paid 

 into the treasury of this province, all costs incurred having been first 

 deducted therefrom. Provided always, That it shall be lawful for 

 the commissioners of the revenue to direct that any of such things 

 shall be destroyed or reserved for the public service." 



Section XIII is to be found on p. 122 of the Appendix to the Case 

 of the United States: 



" XIII. And be it further enacted, That in case any information 

 or suit shall be brought to trial on account of any seizure made under 

 this act, and a verdict shall be found for the claimant thereof, and 

 the judge or court before whom the cause shall have been tried shall 

 certify on the record that there was probable cause of seizure, the 

 claimant shall not be entitled to any costs of suit, nor shall the person 

 who made such seizure be liable to any action, indictment, or other 

 suit or prosecution on account of such seizure, .... wherein a ver- 

 dict shall be given against the defendant, the plaintiff, besides the 

 thing seized, or the value thereof, shall be entitled to no more than 

 two pence damages, nor to any costs of suit, nor shall the defendant 

 in such prosecution be fined more than one shilling." 



It will be found by an examination of these two sections of the 

 Act that the legislature protected, by the provisions of this Act, any 

 person making a seizure against a claim for damages, and at the 

 same time awarded to the officer, or to an individual making a 

 seizure, one-half of the proceeds arising from the sale of the cargo or 

 vessel. 



This legislation was peculiarly adapted to persuade the inhabitants 

 of Nova Scotia to become active in seizing American vessels, and it is 

 not surprising that, within a short time after the passing of the Act, 

 it should be found that a new interpretation of the renunciatory 

 clause of the treaty of 1818 had been discovered by the provincial 

 fishermen. 



Lieutenant Paine, of the United States Navy, in a report dated the 

 29th December, 1839, which will be found in the Appendix to the 



