by the act made punishable by not exceeding six months' im- Summary prisonment, or by any penalty not exceeding 100%., shall in before jusproceedings England and Ireland be prosecuted summarily before any two tices. or more justices; as to England in the manner directed by the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1848, or any acts to be passed for the like purposes (); and as to Ireland by the 14 & 15 Vict. c. 93, or any such like subsequent acts, and that all the provisions of such acts shall be applicable to the prosecution of the offences in question as if the same were in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, stated to be offences in respect of which two or more justices possess jurisdiction to convict summarily or to make a summary order (1). The same section provides that every offence declared by the act to be a misdemeanor shall be punishable by fine or imprisonment, with or without hard labour (m), or be deemed one of the offences made punishable under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, by not exceeding six months' imprisonment, with or without hard labour, or by a penalty not exceeding 1007., and as such may be prosecuted summarily in the manner above mentioned. With respect to all offences under the act committed in any British possession (n), the section further provides that such offences shall be punishable in any Court, or by any justices of (k) See the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43, the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 43 (enabling a special case to be stated by a court of summary jurisdiction), and the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 49), which, saving as therein provided, is to be construed as one with the 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43, and provides inter alia that an adult person charged with an offence for which he is liable on summary conviction to be imprisoned for a term exceeding three months, and which is not an assault, may claim to be tried by a jury (sect. 17), and that an appeal to a Court of general or quarter sessions shall lie in every case where a person is sentenced by a Court of summary jurisdiction to imprisonment without the option of a fine, and the sentence is not adjudged for a failure to comply with an order for the payment of money (ss. 31 and 32). The 65th section of the M. S. Act, 1862, provides, that nothing in the 3rd section of the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 63 (requiring appellants to enter into recognizances where a special case is stated), except so much thereof as relates to the payment of fees to justices' clerks, shall be deemed to apply to any pro- (2) All proceedings for instituting (m) The section also provides that the Court trying the case may order payment of the same costs and expenses as are allowed by statute or ordinance in other cases of misdemeanor. (n) Sect. 2 of the act defines "British possession" to mean any colony, plantation, island, territory or settlement within her Majesty's dominions, and not within the United Kingdom; and by the M. S. Colonial Act, 1869, 32 Vict. c. 11, s. 7, for the purpose of the M. S. Acts, Canada is to be deemed a British possession. Appeal from summary conviction. Naval Courts abroad. the peace or magistrate having jurisdiction over offences of a like character, or as may be determined by any act or ordinance of such possession, and also contains provisions providing for an appeal to the appropriate Court of general or quarter sessions in all cases of summary convictions in England under the section where the sum adjudged to be paid exceeds 57. or the period of imprisonment adjudged exceeds one month, and declares how and in what manner the appeal shall be prosecuted. Provisions are contained in the 20 & 21 Vict. c. 43, and the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, under which any person aggrieved who desires to question a conviction, order, determination or other proceeding of a Court of summary jurisdiction in England, on the ground that it is erroneous or in excess of jurisdiction, may appeal to a superior Court (0). Sect. 519 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, enacts that any stipendiary magistrate shall have full power to do alone whatever two justices of the peace are by the act authorized to do. It is provided by sect. 520 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, that for purposes of jurisdiction all offences under the act are to be deemed to have been committed, and all causes of complaint to have arisen, either where actually committed or where the complaint arose, or in any place in which the offender may be (p); and by sect. 521, the jurisdiction of which any Court, justice of the peace, or other magistrates possess either by statute or at common law over the adjoining districts is extended over all ships and boats lying or passing off any coast, or being in or near any bay, channel, lake, river or navigable water, and over all persons on board or belonging to such ships or boats. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, contains provisions enabling any officer in command of a Queen's ship on a foreign (o) See supra, p. 189, n. (k). (p) See also the M. S. Act, 1855, s. 21, which provides, that any Court in the Queen's dominions may try any British subject found within its jurisdiction, and charged with any offence committed on board a British ship on the high seas, or in any foreign harbour, if the Court would have had cognizance of the offence if committed within its ordinary jurisdiction. A similar power is given by the same act to try any person, not being a British subject, for any offence committed on board a British ship on the high seas. As to the construction of this section, see Reg. v. Lopez, 7 Cox, C. C. 431; 27 L. J., M. C. 48. See also the 24 & 25 Vict. c. 97, ss. 42-49, 72, and the 12 & 13 Vict. c. 96, which provides for the prosecution, in the colonies, of offences committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty. station, or, in the absence of such officer, a consular officer, to summon a Court, termed a Naval Court, to inquire into matters of complaint requiring immediate investigation, or into the cause of the wreck or abandonment of any British ship, or whenever the interest of the owners of the ship or cargo appear to require it. The act defines the constitution and powers of Naval Courts, and lays down general rules with respect to their functions and mode of action (q). By sect. 263, these Courts may discharge any seaman from his ship, and may order his wages or any part of them to be forfeited; they may direct the same to be either retained as compensation by the owner, or to be paid into the Exchequer. These tribunals have also power to decide any questions as to wages, fines or forfeitures arising between any of the parties to the proceedings, and they may order that any costs incurred by the master or owner in procuring the imprisonment of any seaman or apprentice in a foreign port, or in his maintenance whilst so imprisoned, shall be paid out of the wages then or subsequently earned. They have also authority over the costs of the proceedings, and may order any person making a frivolous or vexatious complaint to pay compensation for any loss or delay thereby occasioned. The costs and compensation may be recovered in the same manner as wages, or, if the case admits, may be deducted from the wages (r). The 18th section of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1855, confers powers on any naval court summoned under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 (s), to hear any complaint touching the conduct of the master or any of the crew of any ship, to try such master or any of such crew for any offences against the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, which, if committed in the United Kingdom, could have been prosecuted summarily before two justices, and to inflict the like punishments as such justices could then have inflicted (t). (7) See the M. S. Act, 1854, ss. 260-266. (r) The M. S. Act, 1854, s. 263. All the orders duly made by these Courts are, in any subsequent legal proceedings, conclusive as to the rights of the parties. These sections with reference to Naval Courts, which occur in the third part of the M. S. Act, 1854, are not excepted in sect. 13 of the M. S. Act, 1862, which extends to sea-going yachts the greater portion of Part III. of the M. S. Act, 1854. Sect. 260. (t) In cases where an offender is sentenced to imprisonment, the proceedings must be confirmed by the senior naval or consular officer present. The M. S. Act, 1855, s. 18. Offences on high seas and abroad. Inquiries before consular officers. By sect. 267 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, all offences against property or person committed in or at any place either ashore or afloat out of the Queen's dominions by any master, seaman or apprentice who at the time when the offence was committed is, or within three months previously had been, employed in any British ship, are to be treated and punished as if committed within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England; and the costs and expenses of the prosecution may be directed to be paid as in cases of offences within that jurisdiction. Apart from the provisions of the statute law, seamen, whatever may be their nationality, serving on board British ships, are amenable to the criminal law of England, whilst on the high seas, or in the rivers of a foreign state, where the tide ebbs and flows, and great ships do go (s). And by sect. 11 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1867, if any British subject commits any crime or offence on board any British ship, or on board any foreign ship to which he does not belong, any Court of Justice in her Majesty's dominions, which would have had cognizance of such crime or offence if committed on board a British ship within the limits of the ordinary jurisdiction of such Court, shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine the case as if the said crime or offence had been committed as last aforesaid. By sect. 268 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, the following rules are to be observed with respect to offences committed on the high seas or abroad: (1.) Whenever any complaint is made to a British consular officer of any of the offences in question, or of any offence on the high seas having been committed by any master, seaman or apprentice belonging to any British ship, the consular officer may inquire into the case upon oath, and may, if the case so requires, take any steps in his power for the purpose of placing the offender under necessary restraint, and of sending him as soon as prac (s) Reg. v. Anderson, L. R., 1 C. C. C. 161; R. v. Seberg, ib. 264. See also The Queen v. Keyn, 2 Ex. D. 63. It is moreover now declared by the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act, 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 73), s. 2, that any offence committed by a person, whether he is or is not a subject of her Majesty, on the open sea within the territorial waters of her Majesty's dominions, is an offence within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, although it may have been committed on board of or by means of a foreign ship. In the case, however, of a person not a subject of the Queen, proceedings can only be taken after the consents of the authorities specified in the act have been obtained. See Appendix, p. ccclxviii. See also the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 49, s. 46). ticable in safe custody to the United Kingdom, or to any British possession in which there is a Court capable of taking cognizance of the offence, in any ship belonging to the Queen or to any of her subjects, to be there proceeded against according to law: (2.) For this purpose the consular officer may order the master of any ship belonging to any subject of the Queen, bound to the United Kingdom or to such British possession as is mentioned above, to receive and afford a passage and subsistence during the voyage to any offender and to the witnesses, so that the master be not required to receive more than one offender for every one hundred tons, or more than one witness for every fifty tons of the ship's registered tonnage; and the consular officer must indorse upon the agreement of the ship any particulars with respect to any offenders or witnesses sent, as the Board of Trade may require: (3.) Every master must on the ship's arrival give the offender into the custody of a police officer or constable, who must take him before a magistrate, who must deal with the matter as in cases of offences committed upon the high seas: The same section provides, that masters who refuse to convey offenders or witnesses in the manner above mentioned, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds; and the expenses of imprisoning the offender and conveying him and the witnesses, are to be treated as part of the costs of the prosecution, and paid as costs incurred on account of distressed seafaring British subjects (f). pro The general rights of the crew are correlative to their duties. RIGHTS OF Their obedience and skill entitle them to remuneration and THE CREW. tection, to humane, just and consistent treatment, to proper food, if procurable, and to care in the event of sickness (u). (t) The M. S. Act, 1854, provides, that when any death happens on board any foreign going ship, the cause of it must be inquired into by the mercantile marine office superintendent, on the arrival of the ship at the port of discharge; and, subject to certain limitations, the depositions of witnesses who cannot be found are made evidence in all legal proceedings. See ss. 269, 270; Reg. v. Anderson, 11 Cox, C. C. 154; (u) See Limland v. Stephens, 3 Esp. |