(3.) No person may be registered as owner of a fractional part of a share; but any number of persons not exceeding five may be registered as joint owners of a ship, or of a share or shares therein. (4.) Joint owners are to be considered as constituting one person only with reference to these regulations, and may not dispose in severalty of any interest in a ship, or share in respect of which they are registered. (5.) Bodies corporate may be registered as owners by their corporate name. owners. By sect. 38, before registration, the owner of the ship, or of Declaration by any share in her, must make and subscribe a declaration in the form prescribed by the act, referring to the ship as described in the certificate of the surveyor, and containing the following particulars (q): (1.) His qualification to be owner. (2.) The time when, and the place where, the ship was built, or (if foreign built, and the time and place of building not known) a statement that she is foreign built, and that he does not know the time or place of her building; and in the case of a foreign ship, her foreign name, or (in the case of a ship condemned) a statement of the time, place and Court at and by which she was condemned. (3.) The name of the master. (4.) The number of shares of which he is entitled to be registered as owner. (5.) A denial that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, any unqualified person or body of persons is entitled as This declaration must be made and subscribed in the presence (9) The form is given in the schedule to the act. See the form now in use, Appendix, p. ccxlviii. If it is shown to the satisfaction of the registrar that from any reasonable cause a person cannot make this or any other declaration, or produce any evidence required by the act in these respects, the regis- Builder's certificate. tance in the presence of any registrar or of a justice of the peace (r). By sect. 39, before registration by a body corporate as owner of a ship or of any share, the secretary or other duly appointed public officer must make or subscribe, in the presence of the registrar, a declaration in the form given by the act, referring to the ship as described in the certificate of the surveyor, and containing a statement of such circumstances of the constitution and business of the body corporate as prove it to be qualified to own a British ship, together with the other particulars which are required to be given by an individual in such a declaration (s). · Sect. 40 provides that, upon the first registry of a ship there must, in addition to the declaration of ownership, be produced: (1.) In the case of a British-built ship, a certificate (which the builder is required to grant under his hand) containing a true account of the proper denomination and of the tonnage of the ship as estimated by him, and of the time when and of the place where she was built, together with the name of the party (if any) on whose account he has built her; and, if any sale or sales have taken place, the bill or bills of sale under which the ship or share has become vested in the party requiring to be registered as owner. (2.) In the case of a foreign built ship, the same evidence as in the case of a British-built ship, unless the person requiring to be registered, or, in the case of a body corporate, the duly appointed officer, declares that the time or place of her building is unknown, or that the builder's certificate cannot be procured, in which case there need (r) By the M. S. A. Amendment Act, 1855, s. 9, any person who, in any declaration made in the presence of or produced to any registrar of shipping in pursuance of the second part of the M. S. Act, 1854, or in any documents or other evidence produced to such registrar, wilfully makes or assists in making, or procures to be made, any false statement concerning the title to, or the ownership of, or the interests existing in any ship or any share or shares in any ship, or who utters, produces or makes use of any declaration or document containing any such false state ment, knowing the same to be false, is declared guilty of a misdemeanor. And by sect. 101 of the M. S. Act, 1854, the forging, assisting in or procuring to be forged, fraudulently altering, assisting in or procuring to be fraudulently altered, any register, book, 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 made a felony. (s) See form, Appendix, p. ccliv. be produced only the bill or bills of sale under which the (3.) In the case of a ship condemned by any competent Court, By sect. 41, a builder who wilfully makes a false statement in any certificate required by the act to be granted by him incurs a penalty not exceeding 1001. for each offence (t). Sect. 42 provides that, the foregoing requisites having been complied with, the registrar must enter in the register book :(1.) The name of the ship, and of the port to which she belongs. (2.) The details as to her tonnage, build and description comprised in the certificate of the surveyor. (3.) The particulars as to her origin stated in the declaration. or declarations of ownership. (4.) The names and descriptions of her registered owner or owners, and if there is more than one owner, the propor- By sect. 43, no notice of any trust, express, implied or constructive, may be entered in the register book, or is receivable by the registrar; and, subject to any rights and powers appearing by the register book to be vested in any other party, the registered owner of any ship or share has power absolutely to dispose of it, and to give effectual receipts for any money paid or advanced by way of consideration (x). Entry in book of registry. By sect. 44, upon the completion of the registry of a ship the Certificate of registrar is to grant a certificate of registry in the form provided registry. by the act (y), comprising : (1.) The name of the ship and of the port to which she belongs. (t) See also sect. 101. (a) Under the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, s. 35, where ships were held by partners, it was not necessary to distinguish the proportionate interest of each. The names, however, of all the partners must have been placed on the register. See Slater v. Willis, 1 Beav. 354, decided on similar words in the Registry Act, 6 Geo. 4, c. 110. If a person is by mistake registered as the owner of a ship which is proved to be the property of another, the Court of Chancery will correct the error, and direct the person whose name is on the register to transfer the ship to the party declared entitled. (x) By the M. S. A. Amendment Act, (y) See form, Appendix, p. cclv. (2.) The details as to her tonnage, build and description comprised in the surveyor's certificate. (3.) The name of her master. (4.) The several particulars as to her origin stated in the declaration or declarations of ownership. (5.) The names and descriptions of her registered owner or owners, and if there is more than one owner, the proportions in which they are interested, indorsed upon the certificate. By sect. 45, whenever a change takes place in the registered ownership of a ship, if it occurs when the ship is at her port of registry, the master must forthwith deliver the certificate of registry to the registrar, and he must indorse thereon a memorandum of the change. If the change occurs during the absence of the ship from her port of registry, then upon her first return the master must deliver the certificate of registry to the registrar, and he must indorse on it the memorandum; or if she previously arrives at any port where there is a British registrar, he must, upon being advised by the registrar of her port of registry of the change having taken place, indorse a like memorandum thereof on the certificate of registry, and may for that purpose require the certificate to be delivered to him, so that the ship be not thereby detained. Any master who fails to deliver to the registrar the certificate of registry incurs a penalty not exceeding 1001. By sect. 46, whenever the master of a British registered ship is changed, if such change is made in consequence of the sentence of a naval Court, the presiding officer of the Court, or if it takes place from any other cause, the registrar, or, if there is no registrar, the British consular officer resident at the port where the change takes place, must indorse on the certificate of registry a memorandum of the change, subscribed with his name, and forthwith report the change of master to the Commissioners of Customs in London; and the officers of customs at any port situate within the Queen's dominions may refuse to admit any person to do any act at such port as master of any British ship, unless his name is inserted in or indorsed upon the certificate of registry as the last appointed master. By sect. 47, the registrar may, with the sanction of the Commissioners of Customs, upon the delivery up to him of the former certificate of registry, grant a new certificate in the place of the one so delivered up. Sect. 48 provides, that if the certificate of registry be mislaid, Loss of, and provisional lost or destroyed, if the loss occurs at any port in the United certificates. Kingdom, the ship being registered in the United Kingdom, or at any port in any British possession, the ship being registered in the same British possession, then the registrar of her port of registry must grant a new certificate of registry, in lieu of and as a substitute for her original certificate of registry. If, however, the loss occurs elsewhere, the master or some other person having knowledge of the circumstances must make a declaration before the registrar of any port having a British registrar at which the ship is at the time or first arrives after the mislaying, loss or destruction. This declaration must state the facts of the case, and the names and descriptions of the registered owners, to the best of the declarant's knowledge and belief; and the registrar must thereupon grant a provisional certificate as near to the form appointed by the act as circumstances permit, and insert a statement of the circumstances under which the provisional certificate is granted. By sect. 49, the provisional certificate 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 possession within which her port of registry is situate, be delivered up to the registrar, who must thereupon grant a new one, as near to the form appointed by the act as circumstances permit. If the master neglects to deliver up the certificate within such time he incurs a penalty not exceeding 50l. (z). use of certificate. Sect. 50 provides, that the certificate of registry shall be used Detainer and only for the lawful navigation of the ship, and shall not be subject to detention by reason of any title, lien, charge or interest whatsoever which any owner, mortgagee or other person may have or claim to have on or in the ship described in such certificate. If any person, whether interested or not in the ship, refuses on request to deliver up the certificate, when in his possession or under his control, to the person for the time being entitled to the custody of it for the purposes of navigation, or to any registrar, officer of the customs, or other person legally (z) See also as to provisional certificates where a ship is transferred at a foreign port, sect. 54, post, p. 15. |