entitled to require it, a magistrate, or any Court capable of taking cognizance of such matter, may summon and examine the person refusing, and, unless it is proved that there was reasonable cause for the refusal, the offender will incur a penalty not exceeding 1004. (a). If, however, it is shown that the certificate is lost, the party complained of must be discharged, and the magistrate or Court must thereupon certify that the certificate is lost. It has been decided that the effect of this section is to make a pledge of the certificate for whatever purpose void. Therefore where a person who was sole owner and captain of a ship pledged the certificate of registry for a good consideration, it was held that he might nevertheless re-demand it for the purposes of navigation, and that if it was not delivered to him on request, he might maintain an action against the pledgee (b). By sect. 51, if the person charged with the detainer or refusal is proved to have absconded, so that a warrant cannot be served upon him, or if he persists in his refusal to deliver it, the magistrate must certify the fact, and the same proceedings may then be taken as in the case of a certificate of registry mislaid, lost or destroyed, or as near thereto as circumstances permit. By sect. 52, if the master or owner of a ship uses or attempts to use for her navigation a certificate of registry not legally granted in respect of it, he is guilty of a misdemeanor, and any military or naval commissioned officer on full pay, or any British officer of customs, or any British consular officer, may seize and detain the ship, and bring her for adjudication before the High Court of Admiralty in England or Ireland, or any Court having Admiralty jurisdiction in the Queen's dominions. If such Court is of opinion that the use or attempt at use has taken place, it must pronounce the ship, with her tackle, apparel and furniture, to be forfeited to the Queen, and may award a (a) In R. v. Walsh, 1 A. & E. 481, which was decided upon a similar provision contained in the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, s. 30, it was held that a conviction must state the purpose for which the certificate was required. See also R. v. Pixley, 13 East, 91, which was decided on an earlier act, the words of which are not the same. In a case in which a ship's husband and managing owner, who also held the majority of shares, demanded of the master, who was also part owner, the certificate of registry, while the ship was in harbour and before she had discharged, but gave no reason for doing so, it was held, that there was reasonable ground for the master's refusing to deliver it up. Arkle v. Henzell, 8 E. & B. 828. (b) Wiley v. Crawford, 1 E. B. & S. 253; S. C. in error, Ib. 265. The Exchequer Chamber adopted the view taken by the Court below, but expressed some doubt on the point. portion of the proceeds arising from her sale to the officer so bringing her in. By sect. 53, if a registered ship is either actually or constructively lost, taken by the enemy, burnt or broken up, or if by reason of a transfer to any persons not qualified, or otherwise, a ship ceases to be a British ship, every person who then owns her, or any share of her, must, immediately upon obtaining knowledge of any such occurrence, if no notice thereof has already been given to the registrar at her port of registry, give such notice to him, and he must make an entry thereof in his register book; and, except in cases where the certificate of registry is lost or destroyed, the master of a ship so circumstanced must immediately, if the event occurs in port, or if elsewhere, within ten days after his arrival in port, deliver the certificate of registry to the registrar, or, if there be no registrar, to the British consular officer at such port, and the registrar, if he is not himself the registrar of her port of registry, or the British consular officer, must forthwith forward the certificate to the registrar of the ship's port. An owner or master who, without reasonable cause, makes default in obeying these provisions, incurs for each offence a penalty not exceeding 1007. It is provided by sect. 54 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, that if a ship becomes the property of persons qualified to be owners of British ships at any foreign port, the British consular officer resident there may grant to the master, upon his application, a provisional certificate, stating The name of the ship: The time and place of her purchase, and the names of her purchasers: The name of her master: The best particulars as to her tonnage, build and description that he is able to obtain. He must forward a copy of the certificate, at the first convenient opportunity, to the Commissioners of Customs in London. This certificate possesses the same force as a certificate of registry until the expiration of six months, or until such earlier time as the ship arrives at some port where there is a British registrar; but upon the expiration of this period, or upon arrival at such port, it is void to all intents. Under certain circumstances it becomes necessary that a ship Registry anew and transfer of should be registered anew. On this head the Merchant Shipping registry. Act provides by sect. 84, that whenever any registered ship is so altered as not to correspond with the particulars relating to her tonnage or description contained in the register book, then, if such alteration is made at a port where there is a registrar, the registrar of such port, but if made elsewhere, the registrar of the first port having a registrar at which the ship arrives after her alteration, must, on application made to him, and on the receipt of a certificate from the proper surveyor specifying the nature of the alteration, either retain the old certificate of registry and grant a new certificate of registry, containing a description of the ship as altered, or indorse on the existing certificate a memorandum of the alteration, and subscribe his name to such indorsement. The registrar to whom this application is made, if he is the registrar of the port of registry of the ship, must himself enter in his register book the particulars of the alteration, and the fact of the new certificate having been granted or of the indorsement having been made on the existing certificate; but if he is not the registrar of that port he must forthwith report such particulars and facts, accompanied by the old certificate of registry in cases where a new one has been granted, to the registrar of the port of registry of the ship, who must retain the old certificate, and enter the particulars and facts in his register book accordingly. By sect. 85, when the registrar to whom application is made in respect of an alteration, is the registrar of the port of registry, he may, if he thinks fit, instead of registering it, require the ship to be registered anew. Other registrars may require the ship to be registered anew, but they must grant a provisional certificate, or make a provisional indorsement of the alteration in cases where no registry anew is required, taking care to add to such certificate or indorsement a statement that it is made provisionally, and to insert in their report to the registrar of the port of registry of the ship a like statement. By sect 86, every provisional certificate, or certificate provisionally indorsed, must within ten days after the first subsequent arrival of the ship at her port of discharge in the United Kingdom, if registered in the United Kingdom, or if registered elsewhere, at her port of discharge in the British possessions within which her port of registry is situate, be delivered up to the registrar thereof, who must cause the ship to be registered anew. By sect. 87, on failure of registry anew in the above cases, the ship is deemed not duly registered, and will no longer be recognized as a British ship. By sect. 88, if upon any change of ownership in any ship the owner or owners desire to have the ship registered anew, although it is not required by the act, the registrar of the port at which she is already registered may, on the delivery up to him of the existing certificate of registry, and on the other requisites to registry or such of them as he thinks material being duly complied with, make the registry anew, and grant a certificate thereof. Sects. 89, 90 and 91, and sect. 12 of the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, provide, for the first time, for the transfer of the registry of a ship from one port to another, upon the application of all the parties appearing on the register to be interested in her (c). Until recently a vessel, in order to enjoy the privileges of a NAVIGATION. British ship, must not only have been duly registered, but must also have been "navigated as such;" that is, by a master who was a British subject, and by a crew a certain proportion of which, varying as the ship was a foreign going or coasting vessel, consisted of British seamen (d). Now, however, there is no statutory or other restriction on this head, and British ships may be manned by the subjects of any country. Supposing a ship to be duly registered as a British ship, we Privileges of have next to consider what her privileges are. These privi- British ships. leges, which formerly conferred in some cases a monopoly of trade to the exclusion of ships of other nations, and in others a right to a more favourable treatment with respect to duties levied by the British government, have of late been from time to time greatly reduced. At present the peculiar rights of a British ship are substantially confined to the right of assuming the national character and flag, and of claiming the protection (c) By sect. 98 of the M. S. Act, 1854, a power is given to the Commissioners of Customs, and to the governors of British possessions, to grant passes, under special circumstances, to British ships which have not been registered, so as to enable them to proceed from M.P. one place to another in the Queen's (d) 12 & 13 Vict. c. 29, ss. 7, 8, re- C NATIONAL and benefit resulting therefrom (e). With respect to customs and other duties and charges, and to prohibitions or restrictions as to the voyages in which they may engage, foreign and British ships are now therefore placed on the same footing. If, however, other countries do not act with reciprocity in this respect, the Queen may, by order in Council, impose such prohibitions or restrictions as to the voyages to British dominions in which foreign ships may engage, and such additional duties or charges on them or their cargoes, as will place them in the same position here as that occupied by our ships in the ports of the country to which the foreign vessels belong (ƒ). With respect to the national character and flag of British ships (g). The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, provides by sect. 102, that officers of Customs may not grant a clearance or transire for any ship until the master has declared the name of the nation to which he claims that she belongs. This name the officer must inscribe on the clearance or transire, and he may detain the ship until this declaration is made. The (e) The various prohibitions under (f) M. S. Act, 1854, ss. 324, 325. been known in our legislation, for chap. 30 of Magna Charta, 9 Hen. 3, after providing for the safe conduct of the merchants of countries in amity with us, directs, that" if they be of a land making war against us, and be found in our realm at the beginning of the wars, they shall be attached without harm of body or goods, until it be known unto us, or our chief justice, how our merchants be intreated there in the land making war against us; and if our merchants be well intreated there, theirs shall be likewise with us." A similar rule has been applied to foreign ships in cases of collision and salvage, by sects. 58 and 59 of the M. S. Act Amendment Act, 1862. It is provided by sect. 106 of the M. S. Act, 1854, that whenever it is declared by that act that a ship belonging to persons qualified to be owners of British ships shall not be recognized as such, this means that the ship shall be deprived of the privileges and protection belonging to British ships, and of the right to use the flag and assume the national character, but is not to affect the payment of dues, the liability to penalties, or the punishment of offences committed on board. (g) As to the national character of ships generally, see Wildman on Search, Capture and Prize, Chap. III. |