established, within the limits of the charter, but not under the government of the East India Company; at the ports of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, the master attendants; at any other port so approved as aforesaid, within the limits of the charter and under the government of the East India Company, the collector of duties, or any other civil servants of six years' standing, appointed by any of the governments of the said company; at every other port or place so approved as aforesaid within Her Majesty's dominions abroad, the collector, comptroller, or other principal officer of customs, or of navigation laws, or if there is no such officer, the governor, lieutenant-governor, or other person administering the government of the possession in which such port or place is situate (k). The persons administering the government of British possessions are, as respects any act relating to the registry of a ship, to be considered in all respects as occupying the place of the Commissioners of Customs; and British consuls, where there is no justice of the peace, may take any declarations required or permitted by the Act to be made, in the presence of a justice of the peace (1). Every registrar shall keep a book, to be called "The Register Book" (m). 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; it shall not be changed or concealed, removed or avoidably obliterated, unless to escape capture; nor shall the ship be described, by or with the knowledge of the owner or master, by any other name than the one by which she is registered, under a penalty for a breach of any of these rules upon the owner and master of 1001. (n). 2. The ship shall be surveyed by a person duly appointed under the Act, and the surveyor shall grant a certificate specifying the tonnage, build, and such other particulars descriptive of the ship's identity as may be required by the Board of Trade; and such certificate shall be delivered before registry to the registrar (0). 3. The property in the ship shall be divided into sixty-four shares (p). Subject to the provisions with respect to joint-owners and owners by transmission, not more than thirty-two persons shall be entitled to be registered at the same time as owners of any one ship; but this rule is not to affect the beneficial title of any (k) Sect. 30. (1) Sect. 32. (m) Sect. 32. The copy or transcript of the register of any British ship, which is kept by the chief registrar of shipping at the Custom-house in London, or by the registrargeneral of seamen, under the direction of the Commissioners of Customs, or of the Board of Trade, shall have the same effect, to all intents and purposes, as the original register, of which the same is a copy. 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 15. (n) Sect. 34. (o) Sect. 36. The Commissioners of Customs may, with the consent of the Board of Trade, exempt any pleasure yacht from the provisions of this section. 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 13. (p) Sect. 37. Shares in ships registered under this Act are to be deemed included in the word "stock" as defined by the Trustee Act, 1850; 13 & 14 Vict. c. 60; 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 10. number of persons (q), or of any company represented by or claiming under any registered owner or owners. No person shall be registered as owner of any fractional part or share of a ship, but any number of persons, not exceeding five, may be registered as joint-owners. Joint-owners are to be considered as constituting one person only as regards the rule relating to the number of persons entitled to be registered, but are not to be entitled to dispose in severalty of any interest in any ship or share; a body corporate may be registered as owner by its corporate name (r). 4. A declaration must be made by any person applying (s) to be registered as owner of a ship, or any share therein, referring to the ship as described in the certificate of the surveyor, and containing a statement of his qualification to be an owner of a share in a British ship; a statement of the time when and place where the ship was built, or if foreign-built, at a place unknown to him, a statement to that effect, and of her foreign name; or if a condemned ship, of the time, place, and court of condemnation; the name of the master; a statement of the number of shares in the ship of which the declarant is owner; and a denial that to the best of his knowledge any unqualified person or persons is entitled as owner to any legal or beneficial interest in the ship, or any share therein. This declaration is to be made and subscribed in the presence of the registrar, if the declarant reside within five miles of the Customhouse; but if beyond that distance, in the presence of any registrar or justice of the peace (t). If a corporate body is to be registered as owner, the declaration is to be made and subscribed by its secretary, or appointed public officer, and must contain, in addition to the foregoing particulars, a statement of such circumstances of the constitution and business of such corporate body, as prove it to be qualified to own a British ship (u). 5. Upon the first registry of a British-built ship, in addition to the declaration of ownership, a certificate of the builder (v) must be (7) Sect. 37. By the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, s. 35, partners might be joint-owners of a ship, without distinguishing the proportionate interest of each, and were considered as one person only, in estimating the number of thirty-two persons; the Act declaring their property to be partnership property to all intents and purposes. But it was held, that where the members of a trading part. nership were interested in a ship, the names of all the partners must appear on the ship's register. A ship belonging to a partnership having been registered as belonging to two parties carrying on trade under a particular firm, it was held that a third partner, who formed one of the firm, but whose name was not on the register, had no interest in the ship. Slater v. Willis, 1 Beav. 355. (r) Sect. 37. See upon the construction in these particulars of the former statutes, Camden v. Anderson, 5 Term Rep. 709; Curtis and Perry, 6 Vesey, 739; Yallop (v) By 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, s. 28, the Commissioners of Customs were authorized to dispense with this certificate, when by reason of the death of the builder, or other unavoidable cause, it could not be procured, and to allow the certificate of registry to be granted. It has been held to be no objection to a contract for a sale of a ship in course of building produced, containing a true account of her denomination, tonnage, time and place of build, for whom built, and of any bill of sale by which the ship or share therein has become vested in the person requiring to be registered as owner. In the case of a foreign-built ship, the same particulars, or a declaration that they cannot be procured; the bill of sale vesting the ship or share in the person requiring to be registered as owner; and in the case of a ship condemned, an official copy of the condemnation (v). As soon as the foregoing requisites to the due registry of a ship have been complied with, the registrar is to enter in the register book— 1. The name of the ship, and port to which she belongs. 2. The details of her tonnage, build, and description, as comprised in the certificate of her surveyor. 3. The particulars as to her origin, stated in the declaration of ownership. 4. The names and descriptions of her registered owner, or owners, and (if more than one) the proportions in which they are interested in the ship (w). The port or place at which a ship is registered for the time being shall be considered as her port of registry, or the port to which she belongs (x); and her registry may be transferred from one port to another, upon the application of all parties appearing on the register to be interested in the ship (y); and upon delivery up of her certificate of registry for that purpose to the registrar of either port, the registrar of the port to which she is transferred, and to which she is thenceforth to be considered to belong, may grant a fresh certificate of registry (z). 1 By the last (8 & 9 Vict. c. 89) and previous Registry Acts, no persons were recognised as owners of British ships, but owners and mortgagees. Ignoring equitable interests (a), that it contemplates the delivery, by the except those of minors, heirs, (y) Sect. 89. (z) Sect. 90; and see 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, 8. 12. (a) Under the former statutes, of which this was in substance a re-enactment, Lord Eldon took notice of the difference between an equitable title set up under the act or contract of parties, and trusts arising by operation of law or act of God. The latter he considered as being out of the operation of the statute, the former as being restrained by it. See Curtis v. Perry, 6 Vesey, jun. 739; Yallop ex parte, 15 Vesey, jun., 60. Without prejudice to the power of disposition and of giving receipts, conferred by the Merchant Shipping Act on registered owners and mortgagees, and without prejudice to the provisions contained in the said Act relating to the exclusion of unqualified persons from the ownership of British ships, execution may be enforced against owners legatees, and creditors holding from, or represented by, registered owners (b), it enacted, that when ships were sold, after registry, to any of Her Majesty's subjects, they should ("otherwise such transfer should not be valid or effectual for any purpose whatever either in in law or equity") be transferred by bill of sale, containing a recital of the certificate of registry, or principal contents thereof (c); that no unregistered bill of sale should be valid to pass the property in any ship, or any share thereof, or for any other purpose (d); and that as soon as the particulars of the bill of sale were entered in the book of registry, the bill of sale should be valid to pass the property against all persons and to all intents and purposes, except against subsequent purchasers and mortgagees, who should first procure, as directed by the thirty-ninth section, the endorsement of their bills of sale or mortgages upon the certificate (e). However formal the contract for the sale of a ship might be, it was a nullity in a court of law or equity, unless it recited the certificate of registry; however fraudulent or incautious, as respects the person beneficially interested, a transfer by the registered owner might be, the title derived from him, and completed in due form upon the register, was unassailable (ƒ). By the new Act, the recital of the certificate of registry in a bill of sale, or executory contract for the sale of a ship, is not required, and instead of enacting that the bill of sale when registered shall be effectual to pass the property as against all persons whatsoever, and to all intents and purposes, it provides that, No notice of any trust, express, implied, or constructive, shall be entered on the register, or receivable by the registrar; and that, 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 therein, shall have power absolutely to dispose, in manner hereinafter mentioned, of such ship or share, and to give effectual receipts for any money paid or advanced by way of consideration (g). The effect of this provision is, to recognize the existence of unregistered interests in British ships and registered ownerships in trust, for partnerships and persons not named on the register, thus making (f) Abbott, on Merchant Ships and Seamen, 9th ed, pp. 61, 62, 66, 72. Ex parte Yallop, 15 Vesey, 60. Follett v. Delany, 2 De G. & Sm. 235. Cato v. Irving, 21 L. J. 675, Ch. Hughes v. Morris, 21 L, J. 761, Ch. Duncan v. Tindal, 13 C. B. 238. McCalmont v. Rankin, 8 Hare, 1, and the judgment of Lord St. Leonards, S. C. 20, L. T. 1; 2 De G. M. & G. 403. Armstrong v. Armstrong, 21 Beavan, 78; and see Chapman v. Collis, 9 C. B. (N. S.) 769; (g) Sect. 43. the registered owner personally responsible for breach of trust to a court of equity, but without prejudice, as respects bonâ fide purchasers not implicated in the fraud or breach of trust, to any title derived by them from him. The Act also empowers the Court of Chancery in England or Ireland, the Court of Session in Scotland, and any court possessing the principal civil jurisdiction in any British possession, upon the summary application of any interested person, ex parte, or upon service of notice on any other person, to issue an order prohibiting, for a time to be named in such order, any dealing with such ship or share, to annex thereto any terms or conditions it may think fit, to discharge such order without costs, and generally to act in the premises as the justice of the case may require (h). This power is very large, and will enable a court of equity to restrain the registered owner from exercising any act of ownership inconsistent with the equitable rights of persons interested, by sale or contract in the ship (i). 4. Certificate of Registry. Upon the completion of the registry of any ship, the registrar is to grant a certificate, setting forth-the name of the ship and of her port; her tonnage, build, and description; the name of her master; the particulars of her origin, as stated in the declaration of ownership; the names and descriptions of her owners; and if more than one, the proportions in which they are respectively interested (k). Every change which takes place in the registered ownership of any (h) Sect. 65; and see now the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 873 (i) It was held in the case of the Liverpool Borough Bank v. Turner, 29 L. J. (N. S.) Ch. 827, that these sections did not enable a court of equity to give any effect to an unregistered contract to assign a ship as security for money due, the formalities required by the Act not having been complied with; and Lord Chancellor Campbell, in affirming the judgment of Vice-Chancellor Wood, said, that if the statute 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, had been the first and only legislation respecting the transfer and mortgage of ships, he should have held that the forms of transfer and mortgage required by sects. 55, 56, must be substantially followed, although there were no negative words providing that all transfers and mortgages in any other form shall be null and void; 30 L. J. Ch. 379. But these decisions having opened the door to fraud, it has been expressly declared by the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862, that the construction put upon these statutes in the text of the last as of this edition, is the correct one, and that "the expression, beneficial interest,' in the second part of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, shall include interests under contract and |