(Vice-Admiral.)

3. For their powers and history, see The Little Joe, Stewart, 382, 394.

For a list of Vice-Admirals in Canada from 1872 to 1883, see Cook, 410.

VICE-ADMIRALTY COURT.

1. The first establishment of the Vice-Admiralty Court in Canada took place immediately after the cession of the country to the Crown of Great Britain, and, as early as 1764, a commission, bearing date the 24th of August of that year, was issued by General Murray, appointing James Potts judge of the Court, which commission was superseded by another issued under the Great Seal of the High Court of Admiralty of England of the 28th of April, 1768, and the office has been continued by a succession of commissions down to this time. The London, 1 Stuart, 147.

2. By 2 Will. 4, c. 51, s. 6, doubts are removed as to the jurisdiction of the Vice-Admiralty Courts in the possessions abroad, with respect to seamen's wages, pilotage, bottomry, damage to a ship by collision, contempt in breach of regulations relating to His Majesty's service at sea, salvage, and droits of Admiralty. 1 Stuart, 4.

3. In all cases where a ship or vessel, or the master thereof, shall come within the local limits of any Vice-Admiralty Court, it shall be lawful for any person to commence proceedings in any of the suits herein before mentioned in such Vice-Admiralty Court. ibid.

4. Notwithstanding the cause of action may have arisen out of the local limits of such Court, and to carry on the same in the same manner as if the cause of action had arisen within the said limits. ibid.

5. The Court of Vice-Admiralty in the colonies has a concurrent jurisdiction with the Courts of Record there, in the case of forfeitures and penalties incurred by the breach of any Act of the Imperial Parliament relating to the trade and revenues of the British possessions abroad. See The Customs Consolidation Act, 1853 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 107, s. 183).

Vice-Admiralty Courts were made Courts of Record by 24 Vict. c. 10, s. 14 (1861).

6. So in the case of any penalties and forfeitures incurred by the breach of the Act of the Legislature of Canada consolidating the duties of customs, or by the breach of any other Act relating to

(Vice-Admiralty Court.)

the customs or to trade or navigation, concurrent jurisdiction is given to the Court of Vice-Admiralty with the Courts of Record. (Provincial Stat. 10 & 11 Vict. c. 31, s. 51).

7. So it has jurisdiction in the case of any penalties incurred by the breach of the proclamation of the 1st of January, 1801, prohibiting the use of colors worn in Her Majesty's ships.

Vict. c. 87).

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8. The Court cannot, in cases of pilotage, enforce a judgment of the Trinity House upon the same cause of demand.

The Phoebe, 1 Stuart, 59.

9. The jurisdiction of the Court is not ousted by the provincial statute 45 Geo. 3, c. 12, in relation to claims of pilots for extra pilotage, in the nature of salvage for extraordinary services rendered by them. The Adventurer, 1 Stuart, 101.

10. In a case of wreck in the river St. Lawrence (Rimouski), the Court has jurisdiction of salvage. The Royal William, 1 Stuart, 107. 11. The jurisdiction of the Court as to torts depends upon the locality, and is limited to torts committed on the high seas.

The Friends, 1 Stuart, 112.

12. Torts committed in the harbor of Quebec are not within the jurisdiction of the Court. ibid.

13. It has jurisdiction of personal torts and wrongs committed on a passenger on the high seas by the master of the ship. ibid; and The Toronto, 1 Stuart, 181.

14. In no form can the Court be made ancillary to give effect to proceedings had before a justice of the peace under The Merchant Seamen's Act. The Scotia, 1 Stuart, 165.

15. Has no jurisdiction with respect to claims of material men for materials furnished to ships owned in Canada.

The Mary Jane, 1 Stuart, 267.

16. The Court has undoubted jurisdiction over causes of possession, and will restore to the owner of a British ship the possession of which he has been unjustly deprived.

The Mary and Dorothy, 1 Stuart, 187.

17. By the 240th section of The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, power is given to any Court having Admiralty jurisdiction in any of Her Majesty's dominions to remove the master of any ship being

(Vice-Admiralty Court.)

within the jurisdiction of such Court, and to appoint a new master in his stead, in certain cases. ibid, 1 Stuart, 189, note.

18. Suit for the recovery of wages under the sum of £50, referred by justices of the peace acting under the authority of the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, ss. 188, 189, to be adjudged by the Vice-Admiralty Court. The Varuna, 1 Stuart, 357.

19. The Court of Vice-Admiralty exercises jurisdiction in the case of a vessel injured by collision in the river St. Lawrence, near the city of Quebec. The Camillus, 1 Stuart, 383. (This was before the passing of the statute of the Imperial Parliament, 2 Will. 4, c. 51, s. 6, removing doubts as to the jurisdiction).

20. Her Majesty, by commission under the Great Seal, may empower the Admiralty to establish one or more Vice-Admiralty Courts in any British possession, notwithstanding that such possession may have previously acquired independent legislative powers. (30 & 31 Vict. c. 45, s. 16). 2 Stuart, 261.

21. The jurisdiction and authority of all the existing ViceAdmiralty Courts are declared to be confirmed to all intents and purposes, notwithstanding that the possession in which any such Court has been established may, at the time of its establishment, have been in possession of legislative power. ibid.

22. Vice-Admiralty Courts have jurisdiction in all cases of breach of regulations and instructions relating to Her Majesty's navy at sea, and in all matters arising out of droits of Admiralty. Vict. c. 24, s. 10). 2 Stuart, 255.

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23. The jurisdiction in respect of seizures for breach of the revenue, customs, trade, or navigation laws, or of the laws relating to the abolition of the slave trade, or to the capture and destruction of pirates and piratical vessels, is not taken away or restricted by "The Vice-Admiralty Act, 1863." (26 Vict. c. 24, s. 12). 2 Stuart, 255, 256.

24. Nor any other jurisdiction, at the time of the passing of that Act, lawfully exercised by any such Court. ibid.

25. The jurisdiction of the Vice-Admiralty Courts, except where it is expressly confined by that Act to the matters arising within the possession in which the Court is established, may be exercised, whether the cause or right of action has arisen within or beyond the limits of such possession. ibid, 256.

(Vice-Admiralty Court.)

26. Vice-Admiralty Courts have jurisdiction in respect of seizures of ships and vessels fitted out or equipped in Her Majesty's dominions for warlike purposes, without Her Majesty's license, in contravention of "The Foreign Enlistment Act." (33 & 34 Vict. c.

90, ss. 19 and 20). 2 Stuart, 291, 296.

27. As to their jurisdiction, see The City of Petersburg. Young, 1. 28. The jurisdiction of the Admiralty is now governed by the Admiralty Act, 1891. ante, p. 402.

See Admiralty Jurisdiction; Jurisdiction.

VIS MAJOR.

1. If a collision be preceded by a fault, which is its principal or indirect cause, the offending vessel cannot claim exemption from liability on the ground of damage proceeding from a vis major, or inevitable accident. The Cumberland, 1 Stuart, 78.

2. Where the collision was the effect of mere accident, or that overriding necessity which the law designates by the term vis major, and without any negligence or fault in any one, the owners of the injured ship must bear their own loss. The Sarah Ann, ibid, 301.

3. Where, by moving of the ice-bridge in the harbor of Quebec, a steamer was brought under the bow of a sailing vessel, her walking beam broken, and her machinery injured. Held, That the damage was not owing to the contravention of a by-law of the Trinity House, but was caused entirely by a vis major, and was the result of inevitable accident. The Harold Haarfager, 2 Stuart, 208.

4. The Court will not ex officio notice a by-law of the Trinity House at Quebec, but will require legal evidence of its contents and publication. ibid.

See Inevitable Accident.

VOYAGE.

1. In interpreting the Act of Parliament the words "nature of the vogage" must have such a rational construction as to answer the main and leading purpose for which they were framed, namely, to give the mariner a fair intimation of the nature of the service in which he was about to engage himself when he signed the ship's articles. The Varuna, 1 Stuart, 361.

(Voyage.)

2. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1873, permits of any agreement with a seaman under the section 149 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, stating the maximum period of the voyage or engagement, and the places or parts of the world (if any) to which the voyage is not to extend instead of stating the nature and duration of the intended voyage or engagement, as by that section required. 2 Stuart, 328.

WAGES.

1. Summary tribunal for the trial of seamen's suits for the recovery of their wages, by complaint to a justice of the peace, under the 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 19, s. 15. The Agnes, 1 Stuart, 58.

2. No suit or proceeding for the recovery of wages under the sum of fifty pounds shall be instituted by or on behalf of any seaman or apprentice in any Court of Admiralty or Vice-Admiralty, or in the Court of Session of Scotland, or in any Superior Court of Record in Her Majesty's dominions, unless the owner of the ship is adjudged bankrupt or declared insolvent, or unless the ship is under arrest or is sold by the authority of such Court as aforesaid, or unless any justices acting under the authority of this Act refer the case to be adjudged by such Court, or unless neither the owner nor master is or resides within twenty miles of the place where the seaman or apprentice is discharged or put ashore (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 189). 1 Stuart, 358.

This is now changed by the Imp. Act of 1861.

3. Summary tribunal for the trial of seamen's suits for the recovery of their wages, for any amount not exceeding fifty pounds, before any two justices of the peace acting in or near to the place at which the service has terminated. ibid, s. 188.

4. It is a good defence to a suit for wages by a seaman, that he could neither steer, furl, nor reef. The Venus, 1 Stuart, 92.

5. Discharge and wages demanded on the ground that the vessel was not properly supplied with provisions on the voyage to Quebec, whereby seamen's health had been impaired, and they were unable to return. The circumstances of the case examined, and the master dismissed from the suit, the seamen returning to their duty. The Recovery, 1 Stuart, 128.

6. Imprisonment of a seaman by a stranger for assault does not entitle him to recover wages during the voyage and before its termination. The General Hewitt, 1 Stuart, 186.