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formal investigation into a shipping casualty, it is provided by the 33rd section of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1876, that any such investigation may be held at any place appointed in that behalf by the Board of Trade, and that all enactments relating to the authority holding the investigation shall, for the purpose of the investigation, have effect as if the place so appointed were a place appointed for the exercise of the ordinary jurisdiction of that authority (g).

officers under

Acts.

We have already noticed, in a previous chapter, that if, upon Power of any inquiry conducted under the above-mentioned provisions, certificates of dealing with it is reported that the loss or abandonment of or any serious masters and damage to any ship, or any loss of life has been caused (h) by the Merchant the wrongful act of any master, mate or engineer holding a Shipping certificate issued by the Board of Trade under the Merchant Shipping Acts, the wreck commissioner, magistrates, or stipendiary magistrate, investigating the case, may, if the investigation has been held with the assistance of not less than two assessors having experience in the merchant service (i), suspend or cancel the certificate of such master, mate, or engineer (k).

Where an Order in Council is in force under the 8th section Under the Merchant

of the Merchant Shipping Colonial Act, 1869, declaring that Shipping colonial certificates of competency granted in conformity with (Colonial) Act, 1869. that act shall be of the same force as if they had been granted under the acts relating to merchant shipping, and that the provisions of those acts which relate to the suspension or

(7) Shipping investigations are not to be held in a police court unless no other suitable place is, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, available, but they are to be held in some town-hall, assize or county court or public building, or in some other suitable place to be determined according to general rules made by the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. The Shipping Casualties Investigations Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 72, s. 3, subs. 5), Appendix, p. ccclxxb. Any rule so made must be laid before both Houses of Parliament. lb. sect. 4.

(h) See The Arizona, 5 P. D. 123; Ex parte Story, 3 Q. B. D. 166.

(i) See the M. S. Act, 1876, s. 30, and the Shipping Casualties Investigations Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 72, s. 3, subs. 3), and supra, p. 688, n. (e).

(k) See supra, pp. 115-116, note ("), 117, and Appendix, p. ccclxxa. In cases which may involve the suspension of any certificate, the decision come to

M.P.

must be stated in open Court and a full
report of the proceedings be sent to the
Board of Trade, and a certificate can
only be suspended or cancelled if a copy
of the report or a statement of the case
on which the investigation is ordered
has been furnished to the owner of the
certificate, and if one of the assessors
has concurred in the decision. The
M. S. Act, 1862, s. 23; the M. S.
Act, 1876, s. 30. As to what is a
sufficient "report or statement of the
case" within this section, see Ex parte
Ferguson, L. R., 6 Q. B. 287. Any
master, mate or engineer whose certi-
ficate is suspended or cancelled must
on demand deliver it to the board,
Court or tribunal investigating the
case, or, if it is not demanded by such
board, Court or tribunal, to the Board
of Trade, or as it directs. The M. S.
Act, 1862, s. 24; the Shipping Casual-
ties Investigations Act, 1879, s. 3,
subs. 4 (Appendix, p. ccclxx).

Y Y

Extension of
jurisdiction of
magistrates
and wreck
commissioners
under Mer-
chant Ship-
ping Act,
1876.

Appeals and re-hearings of shipping casualty investigations.

cancelling of the certificates of competency granted under those acts shall apply to the certificates referred to in such order, the wreck commissioner, magistrates, or other authority holding an investigation into a shipping casualty, may, subject to any provisions to the contrary contained in such order, exercise the same jurisdiction to cancel or suspend the certificate of any master, mate, or engineer owning such a certificate as the order refers to, as they would have exercised if the certificate had been granted by the Board of Trade (1).

It is provided by the 32nd section of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1876, that whenever any ship on or near the coasts of the United Kingdom or any British ship elsewhere has been stranded or damaged, and any witness is found at any place in the United Kingdom, or whenever a British ship has been lost or is supposed to have been lost, and any evidence can be obtained in the United Kingdom as to the circumstances under which she proceeded to sea or was last heard of, the Board of Trade (without prejudice to any other powers) may, if they think fit, cause an inquiry to be made or formal investigation to be held, and all the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876, shall apply to any such inquiry or investigation as if it had been held under the above-mentioned provisions with regard to inquiries conducted before magistrates under the eighth part of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 (m).

This section does not extend the jurisdiction with respect to the cancellation or suspension of certificates of competency given by the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1862, and it consequently confers no jurisdiction on the authority holding the investigation to cancel or suspend the certificate of competency of a master, mate or engineer by whose wrongful act a ship has been stranded without loss of life or material damage (n).

The Shipping Casualties Investigations Act, 1879, sect. 2, enacts, as we have seen, that where an investigation into the conduct of a master, mate, or engineer, or into a shipping casualty, has been held under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, or any act amending the same, or under any provision for holding such investigations in a British possession, the Board of Trade may,

() 32 Vict. c. 11, s. 8 (Appendix, p. cccvi). The Orders in Council issued under this act are printed in the Appendix, "Orders in Council," 1-12, and in the Supplementary Ap

pp.

pendix, p. 169.

(m) See the M. S. Act, 1854, sects. 433-436, and supra, p. 686.

(n) Ex parte Story, 3 Q. B. D. 166,

169.

in any case, and shall, if new and important evidence which could not be produced at the investigation has been discovered, or if for any other reason there has in their opinion been ground for suspecting a miscarriage of justice, order that the case be re-heard, either by the Court or authority by whom it was heard in the first instance, or by the wreck commissioner, or in England or Ireland by a judge of her Majesty's High Court of Justice exercising jurisdiction in admiralty cases, or in Scotland by the senior Lord Ordinary, or any other judge in the Court of Session appointed for the purpose.

where certifi

The same section provides that where, in any such investiga- Appeal only tion, a decision has been given with respect to the cancelling cate dealt or suspension of the certificate of a master, mate, or engineer, with. and an application for a re-hearing under this section has not been made, or has been refused, an appeal shall lie from the decision therein; if the decision is given in England or by a naval Court, to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division; if the decision is given in Scotland, to either division of the Court of Session; and if the decision is given in Ireland, to the High Court of Admiralty, or the judge or division of her Majesty's High Court of Justice exercising jurisdiction in admiralty cases (0).

before Board

Under the provisions of sect. 14 of the Merchant Shipping Inquiry Act, 1854, the Board of Trade may from time to time, whenever of Trade it seems expedient for them so to do, appoint any person as an inspector. inspector to report to them upon the nature and causes of any accident or damage which any ship has sustained or caused, or is alleged to have sustained or caused.

We have already seen that naval Courts abroad have, under Inquiries bethe same statute, power to inquire into the wreck or abandon- fore Naval ment of British ships (p).

vestigations Act, 1879 (Appendix, p.
ccclxxb), provides that any general rule
made in pursuance of the act shall be
laid before both houses of parliament
within thirty days after it is made, if
parliament be then sitting, or if not,
within thirty days after the commence-
ment of the then next ensuing session.
Before the issue of any general rules
in pursuance of the act it was held,
that the section in the text gave the
Court, hearing an appeal under it,
jurisdiction over the costs of the ap-
peal. The Arizona, 5 P. D. 123.

(0) 42 & 43 Vict. c. 72, s. 2 (Appendix, p. ccclxxa) and supra, pp. 117, 118. See The Arizona, 5 P. D. 123; Ewing v. The Board of Trade, 7 Sess. Cas. (4th series) 835. The section also provides that any re-hearing or appeal under the section is to be subject to and conducted in accordance with such conditions and regulations as may from time to time be prescribed by general rules made under sect. 30 of the M. S. Act, 1876. General rules under this section have been recently issued, and are printed in the Supplementary Appendix, p. 196. The 4th section of the Shipping Casualties In

(p) See the M. S. Act, 1854, s. 260, and ante, p. 191.

Courts.

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GENERAL

RIGHTS AND

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PROVISIONS RELATING TO IM

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PASSENGERS on board a ship are entitled, independently of any statutory provision or special contract, to protection, and to

PASSENGERS.

kind and considerate treatment on the part of the master. DUTIES OF They are bound, on the other hand, to conform, in all respects, to the regulations and discipline of the vessel on which they have embarked (a). They must give their assistance, if it becomes necessary and is required by the master, in cases of sea perils and attacks by enemies (b). They are not entitled to claim salvage for services so rendered, unless they do more than they are bound to do; as, for instance, by assisting in the navigation of a vessel after the master and some of the crew have left her in peril (c), or by rescuing the ship after capture by an enemy (d). In an early case, where the passengers cast the merchandise overboard in a storm, under circumstances which made the sacrifice necessary for the preservation of their lives, it was held that they were not liable to the owners of the goods (e).

reference to

The rights of passengers with respect to passage money depend Rights with upon the principles which regulate ordinary contracts. Where passage a passenger is induced to enter into the contract by representa- money. tions which are fraudulent, that is to say, false within the knowledge of the party making them, the contract is void; even whether or not the misrepresentations are embodied in the contract (f). Where the representations are not fraudulent, but are untrue in point of fact, their untruth forms an excuse for the non-performance of the agreement on the part of the passenger, if they relate to the essence of the contract. Whether any particular representation is essential depends upon the intention of the parties as apparent from the contract, and the surrounding circumstances. Thus, where statements were made to a passenger by the shipowner that the ship would sail on a particular day, but she did not do so, and consequently the passenger refused to go, the jury were directed that if the day named was not understood to be essential, and the ship sailed within a reasonable time, the shipowner was entitled to recover

(a) See the observations on this subject in Dana's Seaman's Manual, chap. 3.

(b) Boyce v. Bayliffe, 1 Camp. 58; and the judgment of Lord Alvanley in Newman v. Walters, 3 B. & P. 615.

(c) Newman v. Walters, ubi supra; The Vrede, Lush. 322. See also Chap. "SALVAGE."

(d) See The Two Friends, 1 Rob. 271, and ante, p. 647. On a capture the

passengers' luggage passes to the
captors as well as the cargo. See the
judgment of Lord Ellenborough in
Mulloy v. Backer, 5 East, 322.

(e) Mouse's case, 12 Rep. 63. No
question of general average appears to
have been raised in this case.

(f) See, in illustration of these principles, Moens v. Heyworth, 10 M. & W. 147; Wontner v. Shairp, 4 C. B. 404, note (i).

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