assume that character. As the law stands generally, they are excluded from it on just grounds. "A proceeding for salvage would be less beneficial and safe for the owners, if permitted. In a salvage case, you must take into consideration the question of personal danger incurred, the value of the property saved, and other circumstances which may influence the demand of salvage; whereas the rule of wages presents only a stipulated sum, which in no case can be exceeded. By the same rule, every temptation to throw the ship into situations of danger, with a view to extravagant salvage, is effectually removed, for no increase of danger can bring to the mariners an increase of profit. "On all views of the relative justice between the parties, and of public policy and convenience, there can be no doubt that the rule of wages has the advantage upon the clearest grounds; but take it upon the most naked principles of law applying to it, the contract covers the whole ship, one part as well as another, and no one part more than another, with the mariner's lien. A part separated by a storm is not disengaged by that accident from that lien. If it be recovered, it is recovered as part of the primitive pledge mortgaged to the mariner. Again, when does the authority of the master cease? His authority does not certainly merge in the misfortune, nor are the seamen at liberty, without staying a reasonable time for the recovery of parts of the ship and cargo (if there be any prospect, in his judgment, of such recovery), immediately to disperse themselves over the country on whose shores they have encountered the mischance, without some discharge from him. The duty of service survives as long as the rights of authority exist; these relations are created by the same contracts; they have a temporary origin and a corresponding termination on all just construction of that contract. "I adhere to the spirit-I had nearly said to the letter-of what I am reminded of having said in a former case, not exactly upon this question, that a seaman had a right to cling to the last plank of his ship in satisfaction of his wages, or part of them.' Be it remembered, that, by the general and just policy of all maritime states, the total loss of the ship, occasioned solely by the act of God, visiting the deep with storms and tempest, brings with it the loss of all the earned wages (except advances), although the general rule of law is, that the act of God prejudices no man; and although the mariner has contributed nothing to the mischance, but exerted his utmost endeavours to prevent it; and although he is prohibited by law from protecting himself from loss by insurance, as his owner is empowered to do for his; it is surely a moderate compensation for these disadvantages that he shall be entitled upon the parts saved, as far as they will go, in satisfaction of his wages already earned by past services and perils.' This judgment, it will be observed, was delivered in a case in which the executors of the seamen had contributed to save so much of the remains of the ship and materials as formed a fund out of which their wages might be paid; a circumstance to which Lord Stowell could hardly fail to advert when commenting on the injustice of rejecting the claim of the mariners-but it was not the ground of his decision. In the case of the Reliance (p), a suit was instituted for wages in the Court of Admiralty, by the representatives of a seaman who was drowned as soon as the vessel struck, and had done nothing towards saving the portions of the ship which were saved. Doctor Lushington admitted the petition, being clearly of opinion that the case of the Neptune was an authority in point, and expressing his entire concurrence in the principle of its decision. By the 17 and 18 Vict. c. 104, in abrogation of the principle of the Marine law, "Freight is the mother of wages," it is enacted that "No right to wages shall be dependent on the earning of freight, and that every seaman or apprentice who would be entitled to demand and recover any wages if the ship in which he has served had earned freight shall, subject to all other rules and conditions applicable to the case, be entitled to recover the same, notwithstanding that freight has not been earned; but in all cases of wreck or loss of the ship proof that he has not exerted himself to the utmost to save the ship, cargo, and stores, shall bar his claim (q) under this contract-that if any seaman or apprentice, to whom wages are due, dies before the same are paid, they shall be paid and applied in the manner specified by the Act, with regard to the wages of seamen who die during the voyage (r); and that where the service of any seaman terminates before the period contemplated in the agreement by reason of the wreck or loss of the ship, or by reason of his being left on shore at any place abroad under a certificate of his unfitness or inability to proceed on the -granted as hereinafter mentioned (s)-such seaman shall be entitled to wages for the time of service prior to such termination, as aforesaid, but not for any further period (t). 3. The time at which Payment is to be made. voyage We have seen that by the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 104, the master is bound within twenty-four hours, before paying off or discharging any seaman, to deliver to him or to the shipping master, before whom he is discharged, a full account of his wages, and of all deductions to be made therefrom; and that, in the case of foreign-going ships, all seamen discharged in the United Kingdom must be discharged and receive their wages in the presence of a shipping master (u). "The master or owner shall pay to every seaman his wages, within the respective periods following; that is to say, in the case of a hometrade ship the wages shall be paid within two days after the termination of the agreement, or at the time when the seaman shall be discharged, whichever shall first happen, and in the case of all other ships, except ships employed in the Southern Whale Fishery, or on voyages for which seamen, by the terms of their agreement, are compensated by shares in the profit of the adventure, the wages shall be paid at the latest within three days after the cargo shall have been delivered, or within five days after the seaman's (p) The Reliance, 2 Wm. Rob. 102. (q) Sec. 183. (r) 184, post, p. 495. Sec. 205. (t) Sec. 185. (u) Sec. 171, Ante, p. 473. discharge, whichever shall first happen; and in all cases, the seaman shall, at the time of his discharge, be entitled to be paid on account a sum equal to one-fourth part of the estimated balance due to him; and if any master or owner shall neglect or refuse to make payment in the manner required, without sufficient cause, he shall for every such neglect or refusal pay to the seamen the amount of two days' pay for each day, not exceeding ten days, during which payment shall, without sufficient cause, be delayed beyond the respective periods aforesaid, and such sum shall be recoverable as wages (x). The payment will be valid, notwithstanding any previous assignment by the seamen of his wages, or attachment or incumbrance thereon, and no assignment of wages or of salvage, made prior to the accruing thereof, will be binding upon, and no authority for their receipt irrevocable by, the party making it; and no debt exceeding in amount 5s., incurred by any seaman after he has engaged to serve, will be recoverable until the service agreed for is concluded (y). When a seaman is left on shore at any place abroad, under a ccrtificate of his not being in a condition to proceed on the voyage, the master is to deliver to certain functionaries or merchants (mentioned in the Act) a just and true account of the wages due, and to pay the same to the seaman, in money or by a bill, drawn upon the owner of his ship; and if by a bill, then such functionary or merchants are authorized and required by certificate, endorsed on the bill, to testify that it is drawn according to the Act, for money due on account of wages of a seaman, or to that effect. The penalty upon the master for a refusal or neglect to give such account, and to pay the amount thereof, is ten pounds, and for giving a false account, twenty pounds (~). Policy requires that the wages of seamen shall not be paid to them in foreign countries, as well to prevent desertion, as to preserve, for the benefit of their families, the money that might otherwise be spent in idleness and debauchery. The Legislature of this country has enacted, by a general law," that no master or owner of any merchant ship shall pay or advance, or cause to be paid or advanced, to any seaman or mariner, during the time he shall be in parts beyond the seas, any money or effects on account of wages exceeding one moiety of the wages which shall be due at the time of such payment, until such ship or vessel shall return to Great Britain or Ireland, or the plantations, or to some other of his Majesty's dominions whereto they belong, and from whence they were first fitted out; and if any such master or (x) Sec. 187. (y) Secs. 233, 234. (2) Sec. 209. By the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act 1862, 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 19. The payment of seamen's wages under this section, shall whenever practicable, be made in money and not by bill, and when by bill drawn by the master, the owner shall be liable to pay its amount to the holder or endorsee thereof, and it shall not be necessary in any proceeding to prove the master's authority to draw it, and any bill purporting to be drawn in pursuance of the said section and to be endorsed as therein is required, shall, if produced out of the custody of the Board of Trade, or of the Registrar General of Seamen, or of any superintendent of any Mercantile Marine Office, be received as evidence; and any endorsement on such bill, purporting to be made in pursuance of such section, and to be signed by one of those functionaries, shall be received in evidence and deemed primâ facie evidence of the facts stated in it, owner of such merchant ship or vessel shall pay or advance, or cause to be paid or advanced, any wages to any seaman or mariner above the said moiety, such master or owner shall forfeit and pay double the money he shall so pay or advance, to be recovered in the High Court of Admiralty by any person who shall first discover and inform of the same (a). The French ordinance, so often quoted, has made no provision on this subject; but, according to Pothier, the defect was supplied by subsequent ordinances in that country, which prohibited the payment of wages in places to which the ship did not belong, without the consent of the French consul in a foreign country, and in France of the officers of the classes (b). The Code de Commerce does not appear to contain any regulation on this subject. The ordinance of Rotterdam (c) having enacted, "That the full wages of the ship's company shall always be deemed to be earned, whether one or more complete voyages have been made in foreign parts, even though the ship should afterwards happen to be lost," adds, "that the master shall be obliged to pay to his people every time, if they require it, at least the half; but when any dispute arises, they shall not go to law in foreign parts, nor give one another any trouble, on pain of forfeiture of what wages or monthly pay shall remain unpaid." By the articles of agreement for service in a Dutch ship, which were proved in evidence at the trial of an action brought in this country by a seaman against the master for wages (d), it was stipulated, that in case one or more complete voyages should be made out of the country, the master should at every second place of delivery secure to the seamen two-thirds of their wages by an order on his purser or correspondent at Rotterdam; but that none of the seamen should institute any suit against the master in foreign countries. By the articles of agreement made at Altona for service in a Danish ship, which were proved in like manner at another trial (e), it was stipulated that no one should demand any money, while abroad, from the master, but every one should content himself with the money received upon hand, until the completion of the voyage to the satisfaction of the master and his owners, and until such time as the ship should have arrived at Altona; and it should at all times be at the option of the master to give them money while abroad, or not (f). Some cases relating to foreign seamen will be mentioned hereafter (g). (a) 8 Geo. 1, c. 24, s. 7. This statute was made perpetual by 2 Geo. 2, c. 28, s. 7. A similar provision is contained in the 12 Geo. 2, c. 30, with respect to ships licensed to carry sugar from his Majesty's colonies in America to foreign ports of Europe. (b) Pothier, Loyers des Matelots, sec. 2, 3. (c) 2 Magens, 113, 114. (d) Geinar v. Meyer, 2 Hen. Black. 603. In consequence of the concluding clause of these articles, it was held that the action could not be maintained, although the vessel had been seized by an English ship, brought into this country, and sold here, under the authority of the government; the master and crew not being made prisoners. See also Johnson v. Machielsne, 3 Campb. 44. (e) Hulle v. Heitman, at Guildhall, coram Le Blanc, J. Sitt. p. Mich. Term, 1801. (f) By the law of America, a seaman is entitled to receive one-third of his wages due to him at every port where the ship unlades, and delivers her cargo before the voyage is ended, unless the contrary is expressly stipulated in the contract. Acts of Congress of 1790, c. 29, s. 6. (g) Post, c. 4, s. 1. 4. Advance and Allotment Notes.—Savings' Banks for Seamen. By the Mercantile Marine Act, 13 & 14 Vict. c. 93, s. 58, it was provided that no advance note should be made except in forms sanctioned by the Board of Trade, and no advance of wages or advance note given except to the seaman himself, nor unless the agreement contained a stipulation for the same, and for the amount thereof, nor except in the presence of the shipping master, if the agreement were signed before a shipping master. Advances made and advance notes given contrary to these regulations were not to operate as a discharge of wages (h). These provisions, and some others in the Mercantile Marine Amendment Act, 14 & 15 Vict. c. 96, s. 17, on the same subject, have been omitted from the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104. And it is enacted that all stipulations for the allotment of any part of the wages of a seaman during his absence shall be inserted in the agreement, and shall state the amounts and times of the payments to be made, and shall be in forms sanctioned by the Board of Trade (i). Allotment notes, the drawing of which has been authorized by the owner or his agent in favour of the wife, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, child, grandchild, brother or sister of any seaman, may be sued upon by the allottee in the County Court, or in the summary manner provided by the Act for the recovery by seamen of wages not exceeding 501.; and the seaman will be presumed not to have forfeited and to be duly earning his wages, unless the contrary be shown by evidence of the description mentioned in this section of the Act, or other evidence satisfactory in its absolute discretion to the Court (k). But a wife who deserts her children, or becomes undeserving of support from her husband, forfeits all right to payments under any allotment of his wages which has been made in her favour (1). The Act also contains provisions for facilitating the remittance of wages to the relatives of seamen or other persons, by means of money orders, if the Board of Trade so direct, issued by the shipping masters; for the establishment of savings banks for seamen (m); and for charging upon the wages of absent seamen such relief as may be given out of poor rates to their families (n). Provision is also made, in the case of a ship not returning at once to the United Kingdom, for payment of the wages of seamen who have died, to the British consular officer, or officer of customs, should they require it; or if not, for their payment by the master within forty-eight hours after his arrival at his port of destination in the United Kingdom to the shipping master there, and for the rendering to them a complete (h) Sec. 60. The condition of a note, by which the master agreed to pay, ten days after the ship sailed, £6 to any person who should advance £6 to R. H., a mariner, provided he sailed in the ship, was held by the Court of Common Pleas, Willes J. dissentiente, to be satisfied by an advance to R. H. of £3 5s. in cash, and £2 15s. worth of wearing apparel. (i) 16 & 17 Vic, c. 104, s. 168, |