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deemed to be a British ship (e) unless she belongs wholly to owners of the following description; that is to say:

(1.) Natural-born British subjects:

No natural-born subject who has taken the oath of allegiance to any foreign sovereign or state may however be such owner, unless he has subsequently taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen, and is, during the whole period of his being an owner, resident within her dominions, or a member of a British factory, or partner in a house actually carrying on business in the United Kingdom, or within the Queen's dominions.

(2.) Persons made denizens by letters of denization, or naturalized by or pursuant to any act of the imperial legislature, or any act or ordinance of the proper legislative authority in any British possession:

Such persons must, however, during the whole period of their being owners, be resident within the Queen's dominions, or members of a British factory, or partners in a house actually carrying on business in the United Kingdom, or within the Queen's dominions, and must have taken the oath of allegiance subsequently to the period of their being so made denizens or naturalized. (3.) Bodies corporate established under, subject to the laws of, and having their principal place of business in the United Kingdom, or some British possession (ƒ).

(e) Sect. 106 of this act provides that whenever it is declared by the statute that a ship belonging to any person or body corporate qualified according to this act to be owners of British ships shall not be recognized as a British ship, such ship shall not be entitled to any benefits, privileges, advantages or protection usually enjoyed by British ships, and shall not be entitled to use the British flag or assume the British national character; but, so far as regards the payment of dues, the liability to pains and penalties, and the punishment of offences committed on board, or by any persons belonging to her, she is to be dealt with in the same manner in all respects as if she were a recognized British ship.

(f) By the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, s. 12, no person who had taken the oath of allegiance to any foreign state, except under the terms of some capitulation, unless he afterwards became a denizen

or naturalized subject of the United Kingdom by the Queen's letters-patent, or by Act of Parliament, nor any person usually residing in any country not under the dominion of the Queen, unless a member of a British factory, or an agent for or a partner of a house carrying on trade in this country, could be owner in whole or in part of a registered ship. Under this statute it was held that a corporation within the United Kingdom, some of whose members were foreigners resident abroad, might register its ships. Reg. v. Arnaud, 9 Q. B. 806. By the 12 & 13 Vict. c. 29, s. 17, which continued in operation till the 1st May, 1855, all natural-born subjects of the Queen, denizens, or persons naturalized, whether by letters of denization, Act of Parliament, or act or ordinance of the legislature of any of the British possessions in Asia, Africa or America, or authorized by any such act to hold shares in British shipping, were, on taking the

By the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, sect. 30, the following persons are authorized and required to register British ships, and are made registrars for the purposes of the act :

(1.) At any port or place in the United Kingdom or Isle of
Man approved by the Commissioners of Customs for the
registry of ships, the collector, comptroller or other
principal officer of customs for the time being.
(2.) In Guernsey and Jersey, the principal officers of customs,
together with the governor, lieutenant-governor or other
person administering the government of those islands.
(3.) In Malta, Gibraltar and Heligoland, the governor, lieu-
tenant-governor or other person administering the govern-

ment.

(4.) At any port or place within the limits of the charter,
but not under the government of the East India Com-
pany, and at which no custom house is established, the
collector of duties, together with the governor, lieu-
tenant-governor or other person administering the
government (g).

(5.) At the ports of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, the
master attendants, and at any other port or place within
the limits of the charter and under the government of
the East India Company, the collector of duties, or any
other person of six years' standing in the civil service of
the company, who is appointed by any of the govern-
ments of the company to act for this purpose (g).
(6.) At every other port or place as aforesaid within the
Queen's dominions abroad, the collector, comptroller or
other principal officer of customs, or of navigation laws,
or if there is no such officer resident there, the governor,
lieutenant-governor or other person administering the
government of the possession in which such port or
place is situate (h).

oath of allegiance, qualified to be owners of British registered vessels. Both these acts are now repealed by the Merchant Shipping Repeal Act, 1854, the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120.

(g) The government of the territories formerly governed by the E. I. Co. is by 21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, transferred to the Crown.

(h) As to the liability of registrars, the returns which are to be made by

them to the Commissioners of Customs,
and the application of fees received by
the registrars, see sects. 93, 94 and 95.
In all cases the place must be approved
of by the Commissioners of Customs,
subject to the following provision:-
The governor, lieutenant-governor or
other person administering the govern-
ment in any British possession where
any ship is registered under the autho-
rity of the act is, with regard to the per-

Where and how registry

may be made.

Rules for ascertaining tonnage.

The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, contains in sects. 20 to 24, rules for ascertaining the tonnage both of sailing and steam vessels (i); and by sect. 25, in every registered British ship, the number denoting the registered tonnage and the number of her certificate of registry must be deeply carved or otherwise permanently marked on her main beam. If this is discontinued she will no longer be recognized as a British ship. By sect. 26 of this act, when the tonnage of any ship has been ascertained and registered, it is thenceforth to be deemed her tonnage, and it must be repeated in every subsequent registry, unless an alteration is made in her form or capacity, or the tonnage has been erroneously computed, in which case the ship may be remeasured and her tonnage correctly registered (k).

By sect. 27, ships registered before the act came into operation need not have their registered tonnage altered so as to accord with the new system; but any owner may, if he wishes it, have his ship remeasured according to these rules; and by sect. 28, a power is given to the Commissioners of Customs to require that the engine-rooms of steam ships which have been measured before the present act, and altered by the introduction of store rooms or coal bunkers across them, shall be remeasured, so as not to exclude from the tonnage of the ships, by reason of the deduction which is allowed for the engineroom, a larger space than is proper.

formance of any act or thing relating to
the registry of a ship or of any interest
therein, to be considered in all respects
as occupying the place of the Commis-
sioners of Customs; and any British
consular officer, in any place, where
there is no justice of the peace, is autho-
rized to take any declaration required
or permitted to be made in the presence
of a justice of the peace. See sect. 31.
(i) The mode of measuring directed
by these sections is new, and differs from
that prescribed by sects. 16, 17, 18 and
19 of the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89. In 1849,
commissioners were appointed by the
government to consider the best method
of measuring ships, and they recom-
mended an external measurement. This
suggestion being open to many objec-
tions was never adopted. The system
at present in force was proposed by
Mr. Moorsom, one of those commis-
sioners. By sect. 29 of the M. S. Act,
1854, the Commissioners of Customs
may, with the sanction of the Treasury,
appoint persons to superintend the

survey and admeasurement of ships, and may, with the approval of the Board of Trade, make from time to time regulations for this purpose. By the M. S. A. Amendment Act, 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 91), s. 14, the owner of a ship which has been measured under Rule II. of sect. 22 of the M. S. Act, 1854, may, on application, have the ship remeasured under Rule I. in sect. 21.

(k) The M. S. A. Amendment Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 63), provides that any body corporate or persons having power to levy tonnage rates on ships may, if they think fit, with the consent of the Board of Trade, levy such tonnage rates upon the registered tonnage of the ships as determined by the rules for the measurement of tonnage for the time being in force under the principal act, notwithstanding that the local act or acts under which such rates are levied provides for levying the same upon some different system of tonnage measurement. See sect. 4.

These rules as to tonnage do not, of course, affect foreign ships; but by the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 63), s. 60, whenever it is made to appear to the Queen that the rules concerning the measurement of tonnage for the time being in force under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, have been adopted by the government of any foreign country, and are in force in that country, the Queen may, by order in council, direct that the ships of such foreign country shall be deemed to be of the tonnage denoted in their certificates of registry or other national papers; and such ships need not be re-measured in any port or place in the Queen's dominions, but are to be deemed to be of the tonnage denoted in their certificates of registry or other papers, in the same manner, to the same extent, and for the same purposes, in, to and for which the tonnage denoted in the certificates of registry of British ships is deemed to be the tonnage of such ships (1).

By sect. 32 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, every registrar must keep a book, to be called "The Register Book," and enter therein the particulars specified in the act (m).

By sect. 33, the port or place at which any British ship is registered for the time being is to be considered her port of registry, or the port to which she belongs.

With respect to the names of British registered ships, sect. 34 provides as follows:

(1.) Before registry, the name of the ship and of the port to

which she belongs must be painted on a conspicuous part of her stern, on a dark ground in white or yellow letters, of a length not less than four inches (n).

(2.) No change may be made in the name of any registered ship.

(3.) No concealment, absence or avoidable obliteration of the names of the ship or her port is permitted, except for the purpose of escaping capture by an enemy.

(1) As to the effect of such an order in Council and its publication, alteration and revocation, see the M. S. A. Amendment Act, 1862, ss. 61, 62, 63 and 64.

(m) This book is accessible to the public for inspection on payment of a fee of 1s., see sect. 92. To forge or fraudulently alter this book, or any certificate of surveyor, certificate of registry, declaration of ownership, bill of sale, instrument of mortgage, certificate

of mortgage or sale, or any entry or
indorsement required by the second
part of the act, is a felony. See sect.
101.
As to the proof of this and other
documents required by the second part
of the act, see sect. 107, and the M. S. A.
Amendment Act, 1855, s. 15.

(n) By the M. S. A. Amendment Act, 1855, s. 13, the Commissioners of Customs may, with the consent of the Board of Trade, exempt any pleasure yacht from this provision.

Division of shares.

(4.) The ship may not be described by or with the knowledge of the owner or master by any name other than the one by which she is registered; for a breach of any of these rules the owner and master each incur a penalty not exceeding 1007.

Sect. 35 provides, that the application to register is to be made by the proposed owners, or by some one or more of them, or by their duly authorized agent, and, in the case of bodies corporate, by their duly authorized agent; the authority of the agent, if appointed by individuals, must be testified by writing under the hands of the appointers, and if by a corporation, under its common seal.

By sect. 36, the ship must, before registry, be surveyed by a person duly appointed under the act, who is to grant a certificate specifying her tonnage, build and such other particulars descriptive of her identity as may from time to time be required by the Board of Trade; this certificate must be delivered to the registrar before registry (o).

The following are the rules with respect to entries in the register book, which are laid down by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854:

Sect. 37 prescribes that,―

(1.) The property in a ship must be divided into sixty-four

shares (p).

(2.) Subject to the provisions with respect to joint owners or

owners by transmission, not more than thirty-two individuals may be registered at the same time as owners of one ship. This rule does not, however, affect the beneficial title of any number of persons, or of a company represented by or claiming under or through a registered owner or joint owner.

(0) A form of this certificate is given in the schedule to the M. S. Act, 1854, see Form A. By sect. 96 of that act, however, the Commissioners of Customs are empowered, with the consent of the Board of Trade, to alter from time to time the forms contained in the schedule of the act, on giving sufficient public notice before issuing an altered form. The form now in use, which will be found in the Appendix, p. ccxlvii, varies slightly from that contained in the schedule to the act.

(p) This artificial rule of division was also contained in the 6 Geo. 4, c. 110; and in the later acts which preceded the statute now in force. It seems to have been selected on the supposition that the binary system of halving the ship, and each of the resulting shares, until the whole is reduced to sixty-four parts, is, practically, convenient. See Holt on Shipping, p. 25.

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