TOWAGE. Jurisdiction of the Admiralty Division. Maritime lien. County Courts having Admiralty jurisdiction. Vice-Admiralty Courts abroad. of it entering into a written agreement, attested by two witnesses, The Court of Admiralty, from ancient times, appears to have exercised jurisdiction over claims for towage, in cases where the towage services were rendered on the high seas (r). This jurisdiction was extended by the 6th section of the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 65; and, by virtue of that section and of the provisions of the Judicature Acts, the Admiralty Division now has jurisdiction to decide all claims and demands in the nature of towage, and to enforce the payment thereof, whether the ship to which the towage has been rendered may have been within the body of a county or upon the high seas at the time when such services were rendered (s). Towage confers a maritime lien; and this lien, if enforced within a reasonable time in an action of rem in the Admiralty Division, travels with the ship into whosoever hands she may come (t). County Courts having admiralty jurisdiction possess jurisdiction as to any claim for towage where either the amount claimed does not exceed one hundred and fifty pounds or the parties have agreed by a memorandum, signed by them, their solicitors or agents, that the Court proceeded in shall have jurisdiction (u). section of the Vice-Admiralty It is provided by the 10th (1) When an agreement of this kind Williams & Bruce's Admiralty (s) Appendix, p. ccxiii. See The C. C. 871; The Martha, Lush. 314; The Lady Flora Hastings, 3 W. Rob. 118. (t) See The Constancia, 10 Jurist, 845; The Benares, 7 No. C. Suppl. liii., The St. Lawrence, 5 P. D. 253, where it was admitted, with the assent of the Court, that a person who had paid a claim for towage was entitled to be repaid the amount of such claim in priority to the claim of a bottomry bondholder who had made advances on bottomry previously to the date when the towage services were rendered. (u) 31 & 32 Vict. c. 71, s. 3 (Appendix, p. ccxcviii). See The Hjemmett, 5 P. D. 227. Courts Act, 1863, that the Vice-Admiralty Courts abroad shall have jurisdiction over claims in respect of towage (x). The Court of Admiralty in Ireland has jurisdiction in all Court of Admiralty in cases of towage, whether the service is performed within the Ireland. body of a county or on the high seas (y). WRECK. rights as to. By the common law of England, if a ship was lost at sea, but the cargo or a portion of it came to land, the goods saved Common law belonged to the Crown (). The strictness of this prerogative was relaxed by very early charters and statutes, and the owners of shipwrecked goods were allowed to retain them if they could identify them (a). By later acts provision was also made for rewarding those persons by whose labour and enterprize shipwrecked property had been saved (b). the Merchant The rights of the owners, the Crown, and other claimants Wreck under to property that has been wrecked are now regulated by the Shipping Act, Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and the Merchant Shipping 1854, and the Act, 1862 (c), and by the first of these acts provision is made Shipping Act, for the control of matters relating to wreck and the appointment of receivers of wreck. Merchant 1862. Board of The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, gives (by sect. 439) to Control of the Board of Trade the general superintendence of all matters Trade over relating to wreck (d); and empowers the Board, with the consent and appointof the Commissioners of the Treasury, to appoint any officer of receivers of, Customs, of the coast-guard, or of Inland Revenue, or, when it wreck. As to (x) 26 Vict. c. 24, s. 10 (Appendix ccxl.); The British Lion, Stuart's V.-Adm. Rep. (Quebec) 114. these Courts, see supra, p. 123, note (x). (y) 30 & 31 Vict. c. 114, s. 28. () 1 Bl. Comm. 291 (by Coleridge). See also Doct. & Stud. Dial. 2, c. 51, where the harshness of this prerogative is complained of, and it is said, that there being in these cases no cause of forfeiture, but rather a cause of sorrow and heaviness, the last seemeth to add sorrow upon sorrow." 66 (a) See 1 Bl. Comm. 291, where charters of Hen. 1 and Hen. 2, and Rich. 1 are cited; and the statutes 3 Edw. 1, c. 4; 4 Edw. 1, stat. 2, s. 2; and 27 Edw. 3, stat. 2, c. 13. See also Woolrych on the Law of Waters and Sewers, p. 11. c. 122; the 53 Geo. 3, c. 87; and the (c) The act in force before the pass- (d) By sect. 2 of the act, wreck is, if not inconsistent with the context or subject-matter, defined to include jetson, flotsam, lagan and derelict found in or on the shores of the sea or any tidal water. As to the meaning of flotsam, lagan and jetsam, and of wreck at common law, see 2 Inst. 167, 560; Sir R. Constable's case, 5 Co. 106; The Pauline, 2 W. Rob. 358; The King v. Two Casks of Tallow, 3 Hagg. 294; The King v. Forty-nine Casks of Brandy, 3 Hagg. 257, and infra, p. 643, note (j). (b) See the 12 Anne, stat. 2, c. 18; the 26 Geo. 2, c. 19; the 49 Geo. 3, ment of Vesting of Board of Duties of receivers of wreck in matters of wreck. appears to the Board to be more convenient, any other person, to be a receiver of wreck in any district. It is provided by the 10th section of the Merchant Shipping Repeal Act, 1854, that the then receiver-general of droits of Admiralty (d) should, as to all things to be done by him in virtue of his office, conform to all lawful directions given for that purpose by the Board of Trade; and that, on a vacancy occurring in his office, no successor should be appointed, but thereupon all powers and privileges vested in such receiver-general should be transferred to the Board of Trade (e). By sect. 440 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, no admiral, vice-admiral, or other person, under whatever denomination, exercising Admiralty jurisdiction, as such, by himself or his agents, may receive, take, or interfere with any wreck except in the cases provided by the act. The statute defines in detail, the duties of receivers of wreck whenever any ship or boat is stranded or in distress on the seashore or any tidal water in the United Kingdom; and power is given to them to summon and require assistance in these cases to prevent plunder, and to use lands adjoining the coast for the purpose of rendering assistance to ships or boats in distress (ƒ). (d) Appendix, p. clxvi. As to what are droits of Admiralty, see The Rebeckah, 1 Rob. 227; and the Order in Council of the 6th of March, 1605, printed in a note to the report in that case (1 Rob. 231, note a); The King v. Property Derelict, 1 Hagg. 383; The Hercules, 2 Dods. 373; The Helen, 1 Hagg. 142; and The Panda, 1 W. Rob. 423 (goods of pirates); The Pauline, 2 W. Rob. 358, and the other cases cited supra, p. 675, note (d). See also The Little Joe, Stuart's Adm. Reports, 394; Stackpoole v. Reg., L. R. (Irish), 9 Eq. 619. Droits of Admiralty are, during the life of Her Majesty, to be carried to the credit of the the Consolidated Fund. 1 Vict. c. 2, s. 2; the M. S. Act, 1862, s. 53. As to what are droits of the Crown, see In the Matter of a Raft of Russian Timber, 5 Jurist, N. S. 1099. (e) The 11th section of the Merchant Shipping Act Repeal Act, 1854 (Appendix, p. clxvi), provides that the receivers of Admiralty droits appointed under the 9 & 10 Vict. c. 99 (repealed by the Merchant Shipping Act Repeal Act, 1854), shall hold their offices only during the pleasure of the Board of Trade; and that the serjeants of the Admiralty Court of the Cinque Ports and their officers shall exercise the powers given them by the same act of 9 & 10 Vict. c. 99, only during the pleasure and subject to the direction of the Board of Trade. The section further provides that all such receivers, serjeants and officers shall possess in their districts within which they have exercised their duties the same powers, rights and privileges, and perform the same duties, as the receivers of wreck appointed under the M. S. Act, 1854, except that they shall not be entitled to take command of ships in distress unless authorized to do so by the Board of Trade. (f) See the M. S. Act, 1854, ss. 441 to 446. The duties of the receivers where salvage is claimed have been already noticed, see supra, p. 655. Receivers may, by s. 448, examine upon oath any person belonging to ships in distress; and copies of the examinations, which are to be taken down in writing, must be forwarded to the Board of Trade and to Lloyd's. The act also lays down rules to be observed by persons finding or taking possession of wreck, and for protecting the rights of admirals, vice-admirals, lords of manors and others who are entitled to unclaimed wreck, and for the payment of fees and expenses to the receivers (g). By sect. 450, no person who has found or taken possession of wreck, and who (if the owner) does not as soon as possible give notice to the receiver of the district according to the provisions of the act, or who (if not the owner) does not as soon as possible deliver the wreck to the receiver, can make any claim to salvage (h). of any animal washed ashore is buried By sect. 471, if no owner establishes a claim to wreck found Unclaimed in the United Kingdom before a year from the date at which it wreck in the United Kinghas come into the receiver's possession, he must deliver it up to dom. any admiral, vice-admiral, lord of the manor or other person The authorized form of these depositions in cases of wreck is printed in the Appendix, "Forms," No. 56, p. ccclxxxvii. See the M. S. Act, 1854, s. 455, and Sched. Table V., Appendix, p. clxiv, as to the fees chargeable in respect of these examinations. The depositions are not evidence of facts which were not properly the subject of inquiry before the receiver. Nothard v. Pepper, 17 C. B., N. S. 39. It was held in that case that the examination of the master of the plaintiff's ship taken by the receiver was not admissible as evidence for the defendant in an action of collision for the purpose of proving the fact that the damage from the plaintiff's ship from the collision was on her starboard bow; such fact being relied on for the purpose of showing that the plaintiff's ship was in fault, the question which ship caused the damage to the other not being a matter which the receiver had power under s. 448 to examine into. See also The Little Lizzie, L. R., 3 A. & E. 56, where it was held that depositions taken by a receiver of wreck under the section were not admissible as evidence in a salvage suit for the purpose of proving the facts stated in the depositions. See also The Henry Coxon, 3 P. D. 156, where a similar decision was come to though the depositions were tendered in evidence after the persons who had been examined were dead. It is provided by the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1878, that where a carcase or part of the carcase It is provided by the M. S. Act, 1876, s. 31, that a wreck commissioner appointed under that act may, at the request of the Board of Trade, by himself, or by some deputy approved by the Board of Trade, institute the same examination as a receiver of wreck under sect. 448 of the M. S. Act, 1854, and shall for that purpose have the powers by that section conferred on a receiver of wreck (see supra, p. 687). (g) The M. S. Act, 1854, ss. 441-457; and Sched. Table V., Appendix, p. clxiv. The fees and expenses of the receivers of droits of Admiralty appointed under the 9 & 10 Vict. c. 99, and of the serjeants of the Admiralty Court of the Cinque Ports are regulated by ss. 12 and 13 of the Merchant Shipping Act Repeal Act, 1854. (Appendix, p. clxvii.) (h) See as to the sale by a receiver of goods of a perishable nature or small value, s. 453, and supra, p. 656, note (p). Where a barge was found adrift in the River Thames, and was restored to her owners by the salvors, it was decided that this section had no application. The Zeta, L. R., 4 A. & E. 460. Jurisdiction of justices. Wreck in the ships. who may satisfy him that he is entitled to it, upon payment of expenses, fees, and salvage. By sect. 52 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1862, the delivery of wreck, or of the proceeds of wreck, by the receiver to any one in pursuance of the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, discharges him from all liability in respect of it, but does not prejudice or affect any question of right or title to the wreck which may be raised by third parties, or any question concerning the title to the soil on which the wreck may have been found. By sect. 474 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, the Board of Trade may, with the consent of the Treasury, buy any rights of wreck other than those belonging to the Crown (¿). By sect. 475 of the last-mentioned act, if no owner establishes a claim to wreck within the year, and no other person is proved to be entitled to it, the receiver must sell it, and after paying fees, expenses, and salvage, must pay the balance into the Exchequer (k). By sect. 472, disputes with respect to the title to wreck may, in these cases, be determined by two justices in the same way as salvage disputes (7). It is provided by sect. 19 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1855, case of foreign that whenever any articles belonging to or forming part of any foreign ship wrecked on the coasts of the United Kingdom, or her cargo, are found on or near those coasts, or brought into port, the consul-general of the country to which the ship or the owners of the cargo belonged (or any consular officer of that country duly authorized) is, in the absence of the owners, or their agent or master, to be deemed the agent of the owners so far as relates to the custody or disposal of the articles so found. (i) For the purpose of facilitating these purchases, this section provides, that the provisions of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, and of the corresponding statute of the same year for Scotland, shall be deemed to be incorporated with the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854. (k) By s. 53 of the M. S. Act, 1862, the above-mentioned provisions have been amended so as to protect the rights of the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall with reference to wreck. (1) See the M. S. Act, 1854, s. 460, and supra, p. 654. If either party is unwilling to refer to two justices, or dissatisfied with their decision, proceedings may be taken within three months from the expiration of the year, in any Court of Law, Equity, or Admiralty having jurisdiction. See s. 473. As to the construction to be put upon Crown grants of wreck, see The King v. Forty-nine Casks of Brandy, 3 Hagg. 257, and The Pauline, 2 W. Rob. 358. |