dence against the defendant, in a case where he has done no act to adopt the register as having been made by his authority, we cannot give effect to it, without saying that [328] a party may have a burthensome charge thrown upon him by the act of a third person, without his own assent or privity. If it had appeared, that the defendant, by any act of his own, had recognized the register, he would have been liable to all the consequences as a part owner, which it describes him to be; but here he has done no act to adopt it. His partner has indeed dealt with the property, as if the defendant were a part-owner, by registering the ship in his name; but the act of a third person, without some act of the defendant to recognize it, cannot throw upon him a burthen, without violating the plain rule of law." Mr. Justice Bayley said: "Before the first register act passed, there must have been other media of proof to charge a party as owner of a ship; and the object of that act was not to create evidence to charge any person named as owner, but that no person should have the benefit of the British navigation, without registering his ship in the manner prescribed. It would be very unjust, in many cases, if a person could be charged, as a part-owner, with the expenses of the ship, by having his name inserted in the register without his knowledge; it would often be converted into an engine of fraud; for if the owners were not in good circumstances, it would be easy to introduce another name of a solvent man into the register, in order to procure credit; and then, if that were evidence against him, he would be liable to be sued; and how could he be prepared to negative the evidence, if he knew nothing of the fact of such a register? The other owners named, would be made parties to the action, so that he could not call them to disprove the fact." (a)

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(a) In Woods v Counter et al. 1 Dall. 141. the register of a ship obtained on av affidavit made by one of the defendants, stating that the ship belonged jointly to him and other persons, being copied from the books of the naval officer, and eers

Upon the same principle, a register is not of itself evi dence of a joint-ownership, in support of the defendant's plea, that other persons there named are jointly liable; (1) nor is it evidence, that the ship is British-built, as there described. (2) So, in an action brought by the plaintiff as agent, on a policy of insurance, the register is not evidence to prove an averment, that the interest in the ship is in the persons there described. (3) (a) The legislature has made the registration necessary to complete a title, but this does not make it of itself proof of the title. Property in a ship is to be proved now, as it was proved before the acts of parliament relating to registers; as, for example, by proving actual possession in the party, or in those to whom he has committed it or in those from whom he has himself derived his title. Any one of those media of proof, (accompanied by the evi

(1) Flower v Young, 3 Campb. 210. 475. (2) Reusse v Meyers, 3 Campb.

(3) Pirie v Anderson, 4 Taunt. 652.

tified under his seal of office, was allowed to be read in evidence against the de Tendants. It does not appear, from the report, what was intended to be proved by this evidence; probably the joint ownership of the defendants.

(a) Vide John Sharp, survivor of Robert Sharp v The United States In. Co. 14 Johns. Rep. 201. This was an action brought to recover back the premium of insurance on the ship Hercules, on the allegation, that the plaintiff was not the owner when the policy was effected. To prove this, the plaintiff offered in evidence the register of the ship, by which it appeared, on the oath of David Dunham, that he, together with Robert Sharp, were the owners. J. Spencer:-"The only question in this case is, whether the register is evidence prima facie, that Robert and John Sharp were not the owners. The object of the register is, to show the character of a vessel, and to entitle her to the advantages secured by law to vessels of our own country. It was granted on the oath of one of the owners, and there can be no reason for admitting this as proof of ownership, to contradict the fact set up by the act of procuring an insurance on the same ship, as owned by different persons. It would be incongruous to allow a person who applies for an insurance on a ship, representing himself to be the owner, to set up the act of obtaining a register, as evidence to the contrary; especially after the lapse of sev eral months after it bears date, (as in this case) Dunbar was a competent witbess and he ought to have been examined, or some proof should have been of fered to show how the ownership stood, when the insurance was effected. The oath of the owner, in obtaining a register is proof for no other purpose. The register would not be evidence against Sharp, unless it were shown that he sanction:

Rate books.

312

ish indentures.

dence of the registry, in order to make the other evidence admissible,) will be sufficient. (1) (a)

It is enacted by st. 17 G. 2. c. 38. s. 14. that true copies of all rates and assessments, made for the relief of the poor, be entered in a book to be provided for that purpose by the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of every parish, &c. who shall take care, that such copies be entered accordingly, within fourteen days after all appeals from such rates are determined, and shall attest the same by putting their names thereto; and every such book shall be carefully preserved by the churchwarden, &c. for the time being, or one of them, in some public place, in every such parish, &c. whereto all persons assessed or liable to be assessed may freely resort, and shall be delivered over from time to time to the new and succeeding churchwardens, &c. as soon as they enter into their offices, and shall be produced by them at the general or quarter sessions, when any appeal is to be heard or determined.

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Book for par- The stat. 42 G. 3. c. 46. enacts, that the overseers of the poor of every parish shall provide and keep a book at the expense of the parish, and enter therein the name

(2) 4 Taunt. 657. Roberts v French, Taunt. 177, 205. 4 East, 136. Hubbard v Johnstone, 3

ed or adopted it. The principles adopted by the court in this case is fully sup ported by authorities. (4 Taunton 651. 2 Taunt. 5. 2 Campb. 107. 3 Comp. 240. 3 Tauni. 176. 8 East, 10. 4 East, 130. 14 East, 226. 16 East, 169.)

(a) On the trial of an indictment for the felonous destruction of a ship at sea, a copy of the manifest of the outward cargo of the vessel, certified under the hands and seals of the custom house officers at Baltimore, was offered in evidence after proof by the witness, that he had himself compared it with the record. The pris. oner's counsel objected, that there was no evidence that the original manifest was subscribed by the prisoner or even delivered by him. The district attorney answered, that by the 21st section of the impost law, (4 vol. 311, 312,) it was made the duty of the collector of the port," to record in books to be kept for that purpose, all manifests;" and that being a record, the proof offered was unexceptionable. The court held that the evidence was admissible. The Unit ed States v. Johns, 4. Dall. 415.

of every child, who shall be bound out by them respectively as an apprentice, together with the several other particulars, in the manner and form required by this act; and every such entry, shall be produced and laid before the two justices of the peace, who shall signify their assent to the indenture of the apprenticeship, at the time when such indenture shall be laid before them for that purpose, and each entry shall, if approved of, be signed by them according to the prescribed form. And in the third section it is enacted, that any person may at all seasonable hours inspect such book in the hands of the said overseer, and take a copy of such entry; and every such book shall be deemed to be sufficient evidence in all courts of law in proof of the existence of such indentures, and also of the several particulars specified in the register respecting such indentures, in case it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the court, that the indentures are lost or destroyed.

lic offices, &c.

The register of the navy-office has been admitted in Books in pub evidence, to prove the death, of a sailor; (1) the book' from the master's office in the Court of King's Bench, to prove a person one of the attornies of that court; (2) and the log-book of a man of war, which convoyed a fleet, to prove the time of the convoy's sailing. (3) Bank-books are good evidence to prove the transfer of stock; (4) and on a prosecution for a libel published concerning a person in his *office of treasurer of a parish, an entry in a vestry-book, stating that he was elected at a vestry duly held in pursuance of notice, has been considered sufficient evidence to support an allegation in the indictment, that he was duly elected treasurer. (5) So, in an action for disturbing the use of a pew in a church, an old entry in the vestry book, stating that the

(1) Bull N. P. 249. Rhodes' case, 1 Leach. Cr. C. 29. Wallace v Cook, 5 Esp. N. P. C. 117. See Barber v Holmes, 3 Esp. N. P. C. 190.

(2) R. v Crossley, 2 Esp. N, P. C. 521.

(3) D'Israeli v Jowett, 1 Esp. N. P. C. 427.

(4) Breton v Cope, Peake N. P. C. 30. Marsh y Colnet, 2 Esp. N. P. C 665.

(5) R. v Martin, 2 Campb 100.

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pew had been repaired by the then owner of a messuage (under whom the plaintiff claimed,) has been admitted as evidence of his right; being made by the churchwardens on a subject within the scope of their official authority, and as shewing the reputation in the parish respecting the right. (1) Upon the same principle, the daybook of a public prison, containing a narrative of the transactions of the prison, has been received as proof of the time of a prisoner's commitment or discharge: (2). 1321 but it would not be admissible to prove the cause of his commitment. 3) The distinction between these cases is, that, in the former, there was no document besides the one produced, and no other evidence of the fact in question could be given, except perhaps the parol testimony of some person, who might have happened to be in prison at the time; but in the last case, the committitur, from which the entry was inserted in the book, might have been produced, and that would have been better evidence of the cause of commitment.

An entry in the book kept at Lloyd's, stating the capture of a ship, is evidence of that fact, though it is not a sufficient notice of it to the defendant, so as to make him liable on a policy of insurance, by which it was agreed that the loss should be adjusted within a certain time after advice of the capture. (4) The poll-books taken at an election for members of parliament, or at the election of a mayor, are admissible in evidence. (5) A copy of an official paper, containing an account of the cargo of a ship, made in pursuance of an act of parliament by an officer of the customs, and lodged there as an official document, has been admitted as proof that property was put on board. (6) A book in the office of secretary of bankrupts, containing entries of the allow