they or he respectively by writing extend the time.' They may call for documents in the course of the inquiry, and take evidence upon oath." An appeal in case the sum in dispute exceeds 501., lies from their award to the Court of Admiralty of England or Ireland, or to the Court of Session in Scotland, according as the claim originates in one country or the other. But such appeal is not allowed unless notice of the intention to appeal is given to the justices within ten days from the date of the award, and proceedings be commenced within twenty days from the same time.3 Claims that exceed 2001. in amount may, with the consent of the parties interested therein, be referred to the same justices;" and with the same right of appeal as in other cases. But if the parties proceed in the first instance in the superior court, and do not recover a greater sum than 2001., costs are not allowed unless under certificate of the court that the cause was fit to be tried before it." The sum awarded as salvage may be realised in invitum by sale of the property under a decree of the court, or by the receiver under authority of the Act of Parliament. The statutory authority to sell arises after the expiration of twenty days, first, from the time when payment of undisputed salvage is due, or secondly, from the time of a decision without right of appeal; or thirdly, from the time of a decision with right of appeal, when proceedings have not meanwhile been taken for that purpose." The Sum awarded, how obtained. In case of dispute among the salvors as to the apportionment How appoof the sum awarded by the justices, or agreed on by the parties, tioned. when it does not exceed 200l., the receiver of wrecks has authority to receive the amount and give a final discharge for it, and proceed to apportion and distribute the same as shall seem right upon the evidence; such apportionment being conclusive against the rights of all claimants. When it exceeds In case of Salvage by H. M.'s Ships. 2001., the parties may proceed for the purpose of apportionment in the superior court.' In case of salvage services to any ship being rendered by any of Her Majesty's ships anywhere out of the United Kingdom and the four seas adjoining thereto, the British consular officer or judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court at the port they carry the salved vessel to is upon written statements verified by oath on both sides, to fix the amount of the security; and the bond signed by the master for that amount entitles him to delivery of the ship, and binds the owners of ship, freight, and cargo, and their heirs and representatives respectively, for the salvage payable. But in case the owners are not domiciled within Her Majesty's dominions, such further security for the salvage as the judge or consular officer thinks requisite shall be deposited with him, or with him and some other person, in order to the delivery up of the ship.3 The High Court of Admiralty, or any vice-admiralty court, named and agreed on by the parties, is empowered to adjudicate on the claim, and to enforce the bond so given, anywhere in Her Majesty's dominions, the courts with admiralty jurisdiction in Scotland, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, including Man, to be aiding therein, and the persons with whom security is deposited for the same, are to deal therewith as the court directs.* Any such salvor, not electing to proceed under the Merchant Shipping Act, may proceed otherwise for the enforcement of his claims, but he has no power in that case to detain the ship, cargo, or property. 5 But without the consent of the Admiralty, signified under the hand of the Secretary, no claim to salvage by any of Her Majesty's ships can be prosecuted to final adjudication; and it is for the claimant to prove such consent, or pay all the costs of the proceedings; any document however, purporting to give Trade for the guidance of those re- 2 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, § 486, 487, quired in such statements, see § 486, post, in the Appendix. 3 Ibid. § 489. 4 Ibid. § 492, 493. consent, and to be so signed, is prima facie evidence of the consent required.' VAGE. Military salvage, differing from that which has been considered, MILITARY SALchiefly in the description of dangers braved, and the means of successful delivery, without any variance of legal principles, may be dismissed in a few words. Although services of this nature are usually expected from the ships of the Royal Navy, no legal incompetency debars others, and letters of marque or any licence are quite unnecessary. Additional force may acquire the right of joint salvors without ever coming into action, if their mere presence has had the effect of scaring the enemy; but this does not extend to a privateer claiming to share with a Queen's ship, unless the privateer chase; nor even to a Queen's ship when on a directly opposite course, or becalmed, or in some other condition that counteracts her influence at the time." If the vessel rescued be a hired government transport, no salvage is due to a ship of the Royal Navy, since the salvors and salved are regarded as joint combatants in the same battle. Nor does any one acquire a title to reward by recapturing a neutral, his delivery in due course of law being presumed a certainty.? may be Who what services. The rights of the captor in these and other cases are usually Rights of Salvors. governed in this country by a special Act of parliament passed at the beginning of the war, and by a general Order in Council regulating the apportionment of the money among the officers. and crew. Although mention is made by these of the ship, boats, and goods only, freight also if being earned at the time, 1 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, § 485. The Helen, Marshall, 3 C. Rob. Ad. 224, 228; The Urania, Walker, 5 C. Rob. Ad. 148; The Progress, Barker, Edw. Ad. 210, 214. 3 The Wanstead, Morton, Edw. Ad. 268; The Sparkler, Brown, 1 Dods. 360. The Wanstead, Morton, supra. The Belle, Betts, Edw. Ad. 66. Rob. Ad. 299; The Charlotta, Pasqual, 8 See 45 Geo. 3, c. 72; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 19. Reward of Salvors. is included in the value, subject to the claims of salvage. If the vessel be cut out of port before the voyage commenced, the salvor has no claim on freight, though it is afterwards earned; but if freight was in the course of being earned at the time of capture, and the voyage is accomplished afterwards, the court. will then award salvage on freight, not merely pro ratâ itineris, but for the whole voyage.' The reward of war salvage is usually fixed at a low rate; if civil salvage is also rendered, remuneration for that in addition to the other will be awarded, although the salvors belong to ships of the Royal Navy.' WRECK. Wreck of the sea was, by presumption of the ancient common law, the property of no one, and belonged therefore AT COMMON LAW prima facie to the Crown. The harsh operation of such a law, probably as harshly enforced by the early Norman sovereigns, produced one of those subtle refinements of the monkish lawyers, which in better times when the oppression that justified them is abolished, have a merely childish and ludicrous air. If any live thing (by the statute of Westminster the First," "man, dog, or cat ") escaped to land from the ship, the presumption was changed, and the wreck was preserved for a year and a day, that the owner might assert and prove his claim to possession. Derelict. Derelict of the sea, comprehending the flotsam, jetsam, and ligan of the early English lawyers,' is not within the cognisance of the common law, and therefore, at first sight, beyond the prerogative of the Crown. But in its office of Admiralty, 1 Per Lord Stowell, The Dorothy Foster, Sowden, 6 C. Rob. Ad. 88; The Progress, Barker, Edw. Ad. 210, 223. 2 The Sir Francis Burton, Hare, 2 Hagg. Ad. 157; The Louisa, Higginbotham, 1 Dods. Ad. 317; The Lustre, Finlay, 3 Hagg. Ad. 155. 3 See the common law on this subject, very fully set out in Constable's case, 5 Co. Rep. 106 a, and see the learned judge's commentary on the Statute of Westminster, 2 Inst. 167. 4 Stat. of West. i. c. 4, which in the absence of any strong argument, may be received as only a declaration of what was law before it. Lord Coke, however, seems to have had opponents who were of a different opinion, and who could hardly have known how much the jurists of those times quibbled to ameliorate the law without endangering their own security. See the 17 Edw. 2, c. 11. 5 As to these terms, see 5 Co. Rep. 106 b, post, p. 554. asserting jurisdiction over the sea, it claimed derelict as its droit, if no one appeared within a year and a day and made a better title.' when. Conflict of Derelict becomes wreck of the sea when it is cast by the Becomes wreck, sea upon the land. But here the grantees of the Crown in the exercise of its regal prerogative, claiming wreck, came into conflict with the sovereign and his rights as Admiral with respect to property between low and high water mark. It was, therefore, determined at common law that "below the low water mark the Admiral has the sole and absolute jurisdiction; but between high water mark and low water mark, the common law and the Admiral have divisum imperium interchangeably, scilicet, one super aquam, and the other super terram." Goods therefore, when stranded at low water become wreck, which were derelict or flotsam while they floated over the same spot at high water." Contrary to these various rights as ascertained by law, the Wreckers. people in many of the coast districts persisted in usurping a right of property by occupancy, often with such resolute cruelty to distressed mariners, that the repression of such practices has continued to be an object of legislation from the earliest periods of our history. THE STATUTE. Wreck, within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping Act, WRECK WITHIN includes Jetsam, Flotsam, Lagan, and Derelict, found in or on the shores of the sea, or any tidal water. "Flotsam," says Lord Coke, "is when a ship is sunk, or otherwise perished, and the goods float on the sea; jetsam is when the ship is in 1 See per Lord Stowell, The Aquila, ante, p. 543; and per Sir John Nicholl, The King v. 49 Casks of Brandy, 3 Hagg. Ad. 257, 270; The King v. Two Casks of Tallow, 3 id. 294, 298. 2 Constable's Case, 5 Co. Rep. 106 a, 107 a; per Sir John Nicholl, "If the article be floating, it belongs to the sea; it is not wreccum maris, but flotsam; if it become fixed to the land, though there may be some tide remaining around it, it may be considered as wreccum maris; but it having merely touched the ground and being again floating about, its character will depend upon its state at 3 13 Edw. 1, c. 4; 4 Edw. 1, st. 2; 4 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, § 2, "interpretation of terms." |