ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.

PAGE

44, note (u)-Add Bathyany v. Bouch, 29 W. R. 665 (Q. B. D.).

60, note (r)-See also The Fanchon, 5 P. D. 173.

81, note (t)-Chapman v. The Royal Netherlands Steam Co. is now reported, 4 P. D. 157. 87, note (1)—Add Frazer v. Cuthbertson, 6 Q. B. D. 93.

96, note (a)-See Ex parte Willoughby, In re Westlake, 16 Ch. D. 604, as to what is sufficient possession to entitle a material man to a possessory lien for necessaries.

103, note (r)-See The Talca, 5 P. D. 169.

107-Nine lines from bottom, for "assignees" read trustee.

146, note ()-For 33 L. J., N. S. 286, read 33 L. T., N. S. 286.

171-The Merchant Seamen Act,

1880, s. 7, provides for the grant by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen of certificates of service to seamen entitled to the rating of A. B.'s. See Appendix, p. ccclxxd.

172-The Merchant Seamen Act,

1880, s. 9, enables the sanitary authority of any seaport town to provide by bye-law for the licensing and regulation of seamen's lodging-houses. See Appendix, p. ccclxxd.

173, note (a)—The provisions in the text are extended by the Merchant Seamen Act, 1880, ss. 5, 6. See Appendix, p. ccclxxc.

291, note (ƒ)-Nelson v. Dahl is now reported on appeal, 5 App. Ca. 38.

320, note (ƒ)—The Alhambra has been reversed on appeal, and is reported, 6 P. D. 68 (C. A.).

348, note (s)-See also Anderson v. Morice, 1 App. Ca. 713.

359, note (h)-Glyn v. The East India Dock Co. has been reversed on appeal, and is reported on appeal, 6 Q. B. D. 475.

406, note (e)-Nelson v. Dahl has been affirmed on appeal to the House of Lords, and the appeal is reported, 6 App. Ca. 38.

411, note (f)-Add "As to when, in calculating the demurrage due, the days for loading and discharging are to be kept separate, see Marshall v. Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., 6 Q. B. D. 231."

429, note ()-See also Sir John Pirie and Co. v. The Middle Dock Co., Times Newspaper April, 5, 1881.

433, note (b) -See Wright v. Marwood, 7 Q. B. D. 62 (C. A.), where it was held, in a 488, note () case of jettison of cattle carried on deck, that the owners of the cattle were not entitled to average against the shipowner.

461, note (u)-See Bradford v. Symondson, Weekly Notes for 1881, p. 63, as to the premium on a re-insurance being payable, notwithstanding that at the time that the re-insurance had been effected the vessel re-insured had arrived in safety. 480, note (v)-See also The Mercantile Marine Steamship Co. v. Tyser, 7 Q. B. D. 73. 488, note (-See supra, 433, note (b).

522, note (m)-See also The Mercantile Marine Steamship Co. v. Tyser, 7 Q. B. D. 73, where the withholding from the underwriters information that the vessel was chartered under a charter-party, containing a power to cancel, was held a concealment vitiating a policy on freight.

527, note (f)-Burnand v. Rodocanachi is now reported on appeal, 6 Q. B. 638. 534, note (»)-See also The Inman Steamship Co. v. Bischoff, 6 Q. B. D. 648.

614, note (a)-See also Spaight v. Tedcastle, 6 App. Ca. 217.

622, note ()-As to the law which governs the liability of foreign vessels proceeded against in the Admiralty Division for damage done on the high seas, see The Leon, Weekly Notes for 1881, p. 82.

652, note (s)-Add "But a foreign national vessel can no more be arrested in a salvage action in rem than in any other action in rem, The Constitution, 4 P. D. 39."

Ir is not intended to confine this chapter wholly to the consideration of the law relating to British ships, but as these vessels form by far the most important portion of the shipping in

M.P.

B

BRITISH
SHIPS.

REGISTRY.

Ships.

our ports, it will be convenient to direct special attention to them.

The expression "British ship" means a ship belonging to persons entitled to own British ships, and registered according to existing law.

It will be necessary to consider this subject, first, as it relates to registry, and secondly, as it relates to navigation, and it will be found that by far the greater part of the earlier law has been repealed by recent statutes, and that the peculiar and exclusive privileges formerly conferred upon British ships have been almost entirely taken away (a).

First, with respect to registry. Formerly a register was not required as expressive of a British ship's national character; nor was registration compulsory upon owners; the effect of the Registration Acts being merely that no ships, unless registered, were entitled to the privileges of British ships (6). The principal acts at present in force for regulating the registry of ships are the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104 (c)); the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 91); the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 63); the Merchant Shipping Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 110); the Merchant Shipping Act, 1872 (35 & 36

(a) For an account of the early history of British shipping, and the legislation affecting it, see the History of Merchant Shipping, by W. S. Lindsay, in 4 vols. 1874-6.

(b) Le Cheminant v. Pearson, 4 Taunt. 367. The act 26 Geo. 3, c. 60, seems indeed to have required all those ships to be registered which were entitled to be registered. See per Lord Eldon in Long v. Duff, 2 B. & P. 215. The first English Navigation Act is the 5 Rich. 2, c. 3, forbidding merchants to bring or carry to or from England in other than "ships of the King's allegiance." The effect of this statute was much diminished by an act which was passed in the next year, 6 Rich. 2, c. 8, and which directed that preference should be given to English ships only if they were "habiles et sufficientes." The first act requiring the registry of British ships was the 12 Car. 2, c. 18; but this and the subsequent acts only required that the ships should be owned by persons of this country, and it was not till the 26 Geo. 3, c. 60 (Lord Liverpool's

Act), that the build of the ship was required to be British. See the Law of Shipping and Navigation from the time of Edw. 3 to 1806, by Reeves, 1807; Beawes's Lex Mercatoria, and Holt on Shipping. The first statute by which the Registry Acts were consolidated was the 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 55.

(c) The act in force before this was the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, as altered by the 12 & 13 Vict. c. 29. Part II. of the M. S. Act, 1854, applies to the whole of the Queen's dominions (see sect. 17); but sect. 108 provided that nothing in the statute should affect the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 56, which related to ships built and trading within the limits of the then charter of the East India Company. See further as to these ships, Wilkinson's Law of Shipping, chap. xiii, Lindsay's History of Merchant Shipping, and Crawford v. Spooner, 6 Moore, P. Č. C. 1. The whole of the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 56, except sects. 8 & 9, is now repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1874, 37 & 38 Vict. c. 96.

Vict. c. 73); the Merchant Shipping Act, 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 85); and the Merchant Shipping Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 80) (d).

Part II. of the first of these acts contains the basis of the provisions by which the ownership, measurement, registry and national character of British ships are now regulated. By sect. 96, the Commissioners of Customs are empowered to alter the forms connected with Part II. of the act, and to issue instructions as to the manner of making entries, &c. by the registrars.

Sect. 19 of this act requires that all British ships shall be registered under its provisions, except,

(1.) Ships duly registered before the act came into operation. (2.) Ships not exceeding fifteen tons burthen, employed solely in navigation on the rivers or coasts of the United Kingdom, or of some British possession within which the managing owners are resident (e).

(3.) Ships not exceeding thirty tons burthen, and not having. a whole or fixed deck, and employed solely in fishing or trading coastwise on the shores of Newfoundland or the adjacent parts, or in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or on such portion of the coasts of Canada, Nova Scotia or New Brunswick as lie bordering thereon:

And enacts that ships required to be so registered, unless registered, shall not be recognized as British ships, and shall not be entitled to a clearance unless the master produces to the officer of customs the certificate of registry (ƒ).

(d) The 31 & 32 Vict. c. 129, relates to the registration of ships in British Colonial possessions. See also the 32 Vict. c. 11, s. 6.

(e) By sect. 20 of the repealed act 12 & 13 Vict. c. 29, all boats or vessels under fifteen tons burthenwholly owned and navigated by British subjects were admitted as British vessels without registry, if confined to English and Colonial coast and river navigation. In Benyon v. Cresswell, 12 Q. B. 899, it was held that the property in a boat of this description might be transferred without a bill of sale, although it had once been registered.

(f) The M. S. Act, 1854, s. 19. If a ship attempts to proceed to sea as a British ship without a clearance or transire, the officer may detain her until the certificate is produced, Ib. As to the effect

of unduly assuming the character of a British ship, see post, p. 27. Section 98 provides that where special circumstances exist, a pass may be granted to British ships to pass from one port to another without registry. The following order has been made by the Board of Customs under that section:

"Board's Minute of the 22nd and

General Order of the 25th May,

1872.

"The board have had under consideration a report from the chief registrar of shipping, referring to the general order dated 5th July, 1828, under which a British built vessel is allowed, under certain conditions, to make one voyage coastwise, before registry, and to the 98th section of the M. S. Act, 1854, conferring more ex