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Part I.

CHAPTER II.

OF PROPERTY IN BRITISH SHIPS; AND OF THE HISTORY, POLICY, AND
REGULATIONS OF THE REGISTRY ACTS; AND HEREIN,

SECT. 1. The Description and Ownership of British Ships, p. 41.

2. The Measurement of Tonnage, p. 42.

3. The Registry of Ships, p. 42.

4. Of the Certificate of Registry, p. 46.

5. Of Transfers and Transmissions of Ships and Shares of Ships, p. 47.

6. Of Mortgages of Ships, p. 49.

7. Of Certificates of Mortgage and Sale, p. 50.

8. Of Registry anew, and Transfer of Registry, p. 52.

9. Registry-Miscellaneous, p. 53.

10. Fishery Boats, Lighthouse Boats, and Pleasure Yachts, p. 55.

11. Evidence of Declarations and Books of Registry, p. 55.

12. Offence of Forging or Fraudulently altering Documents, making False Declarations, &c., p. 56.

[ALL commercial nations have, for the advancement of their individual prosperity, conferred various privileges of trade upon the ships belonging to their own countrymen; and the legislature of this nation has, for the same purpose, at different periods, enacted laws suitable to the circumstances of the times, requiring for the exercise of some particular branches of commerce, ships, not only of the property of its own subjects, but also of the build of its own dominions-allowing other branches to ships the property only of its own subjects, without regard to the build; and, in others, in which foreign ships were suffered to participate, favouring those of its own subjects by a difference in the rate of duties. It has, however, at all times been the policy of the legislature to confine the privileges of our trade, as far as was consistent with the extent of it, to ships built within the King's dominions; but it was reserved for the reign of George the Third to see the ship-building of the country advanced to such a state as to warrant the confinement of these privileges exclusively to ships of that description, or taken as prize in war. And, accordingly, this measure was carried into execution by a statute, the 26 Geo. 3, c. 60, reserving, however, to such foreign-built ships as were then the property of his subjects, the privileges to which they were then entitled by the existing laws. For the more effectual execution of this important measure of public policy, various new regulations were at the same time introduced to ascertain the build and property of ships,]

[which were afterwards improved by subsequent statutes (a), as experience showed that some particulars, notwithstanding the great attention paid to the original statute, and the great talents employed in framing it, had not been sufficiently provided for by it.

The great, and, perhaps, the only original object of these statutes was to advance the public policy of the state, by the notoriety of property obtained through the medium of a public register, a measure adopted, with numerous improvements, from the wisdom of former times (6). They were often, and upon the whole perhaps truly, considered beneficial in another point of view-namely, as calculated to prevent the commission of private fraud upon individuals; but the instances in which fair and honest transactions are rendered unavailable through a negligent want of compliance with the forms directed by these and other statutes requiring a public register of conveyances, make the expedience of all such regulations, considered with reference to private benefit only, a matter of question and controversy. It happened also with regard to these statutes, as to all others of a similar kind, that doubts and difficulties arose upon their construction, and upon the application of general rules and enactments to particular cases. The matters to be provided for were very numerous and very various. The difficulty of framing positive regulations, even for objects of a limited nature, is much greater than those who have not tried the experiment themselves, or attended with candour to the experiments of others, are ready to admit. It will often happen, that defects can be discovered, and inconvenience manifested, by experience alone. After an experience of somewhat more than thirty years, it was thought advisable to make many alterations, and to comprise the whole subject in one statute, and, accordingly, all the former acts]

(a) 27 Geo. 3, c. 19; 34 Geo. 3, cc. 42, 68; 35 Geo. 3, c. 58; 37 Geo. 3, c. 63.

(b) [The registering of ships appears to have been first introduced into practice in this country by the Navigation Act, 12 Car. 2, c. 18, s. 10, A.D. 1660, for it is not mentioned in the Navigation Ordinance in the time of the usurpation; but the statute of Charles the Second only requires foreign ships, British owned, to be registered. The statute 7 & 8 Wm. 3, c. 22, s. 17, requires British or Plantation-built ships, Britishowned, if intended to be employed in the Plantation trade, and also prize ships, to be registered. And ships for which Mediterranean passes were wanted were also registered in consequence of a regulation at the Admiralty, although a register was not required by statute for British ships employed in the Mediterranean trade, as we learn from Reeve's History of the Law of Shipping and Navigation, p. 423. Louis the Fourteenth, by an ordinance dated the 24th October, 1681, required all his subjects to make a declaration in the Admiralty of the place of residence of all ships belonging

to them, whether built in France or foreign
countries, and of the names of the several
part-owners, who were to be Frenchmen
only, and resident in France, in order to pre-
serve the privileges of the national flag to
his own subjects. See Valin on the French
Ordinance, tom. i. 564, &c. The first article
of the Hanseatic Ordinance of 1614 prohibits
the building of ships in the Hanse Towns
to all except citizens, and persons having the
particular permission of the magistrates of
the place. An Act of Congress of the 31st
of December, 1792, ch. 1, contains regula-
tions for registering ships in the United
States of America, the greater part of which
correspond almost exactly with those of our
statute of 26 Geo. 3, c. 60. The national
privileges of trade are confined to ships
belonging to and commanded by citizens of
America, and either built within the United
States, or belonging to American citizens,
on the 16th of May, 1789, and continually
thereafter, or taken and condemned as prize
in war; or forfeited for a breach of the laws
of the United States.] 5th ed. [Tenter
den.]

Chap. 2.

Part I.

[were repealed, and a new statute passed in the fourth year of the reign of George the Fourth, which took effect for general purposes on the 1st of January, 1824 (a). In the sixth year of the same reign, all the statutes relating to the customs were repealed, in order to bring the whole of that extensive and complicated subject into a very few Acts; and it being considered, that by this measure the Registry Act of the fourth year of that reign was virtually repealed, the 6 Geo. 4, c. 110, and 7 Geo. 4, c. 48, were passed.] These acts were superseded by the 3 & 4 Wm. 4, c. 55, which, with some few modifications, was reenacted by the 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, the Registry Act in force when the 9th edition of this work was published. So much of this last act as limited the privileges of vessels registered at Malta, Gibraltar, and Heligoland, and provided that no vessel should be registered which was not of the build of the British dominions, and related to the disqualification of ships repaired in a foreign country, and prevented ships captured, or sold to foreigners, from being entitled to be again registered as British ships, in case they again became the property of British subjects, was repealed by the 12 & 13 Vict. c. 29, since also repealed by the 17 & 18 Vic. c. 120. The object of the legislature in those statutes was to confine the privileges of British ships to ships of the build of the British dominions, navigated by a certain proportion of British seamen, and duly registered. A British ship was not absolutely required to be registered, but could not legally exercise, and was subject to forfeitures for exercising, the privileges of a British ship without being duly registered.

These privileges were much restricted, being limited to the coasting trade of the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man, the trade of the Channel Islands, and the coasting trade of the British possessions, by the 12 & 13 Vict. c. 29, which extended the right of importing goods into this country and her colonies, theretofore confined to British ships, and to those of the countries of which the goods were the produce, to ships of foreign build, owned by British subjects residing abroad, or by foreigners who had been naturalized.

So much of this last statute as required every British ship to be navigated by a master who was a British subject, and by a crew of whom a certain proportion were British subjects, was repealed by the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 131.

The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 (b), 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, is as amended by subsequent statutes now in force. These statutes have introduced a variety of important alterations of the law relating to the ownership, measurement, and registry of British ships.

It will be convenient to consider these provisions according to the

(a) 4 Geo. 4, c. 41.

(b) On reference to the schedule of the M. S. Repeal Act, 1854, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120, it will be seen that nearly the whole of forty-seven statutes, beginning with the 8th Eliz. 13, "Touching Sea-marks and Mariners," and ending with the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 5, "An Act to admit Foreign Ships to the Coasting Trade," has been repealed.

The substance of them, extending over 1,000 sections, was (with many important alterations) condensed into 548, by the M. S. Act, 1854, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, which Act has been amended by subsequent statutes. The sections of the M. S. A. 1854, are frequently referred to without the title of the act being prefixed to them.

order adopted by the legislature in their enactment, abstracting them, Chap. 2. with occasional references to the former state of the law, and introducing or noticing such of the decisions on the former statutes as seem applicable to or illustrative of the present, under the following heads :

1. The Description and Ownership of British Ships.

2. The Measurement of Tonnage.

3. The Registry of Ships.

4. The Certificate of Registry.

5. Transfers and Transmissions of Ships and Shares of Ships.

6. Mortgages.

7. Certificates of Mortgage and Sale.

8. Registry anew, and Transfer of Registry.

9. Registry-Miscellaneous.

10. Fishing Boats, Lighthouse Boats, and Pleasure Yachts.

11. Evidence of Affidavits, Books of Registry, Certificates, &c.
12. Offence of Forging or Fraudulently altering Documents, mak-
ing False Declarations, &c.

1. Description and Ownership of British Ships.

No ship shall be deemed to be a British ship, unless she belongs to owners who are natural-born British subjects (c), or persons naturalized (d) or made denizens by letters of denization, or bodies corporate, established under, subject to the laws of, and having their principal place of business in, the United Kingdom, or some British possession.

A natural-born subject who has taken the oath of allegiance to a foreign sovereign or state, cannot be such owner, unless he has subsequently taken the oath of allegiance to her Majesty, and continues, while owner, to be resident in her dominions, or member of a British factory, or partner in a house carrying on business within her dominions (e).

These conditions apply also to persons naturalized or made denizens.

Every British ship must be registered under the Act-except those registered before it came into operation, ships not exceeding fifteen (1) tons burden, employed on the rivers or coasts of the United Kingdom, or of some British possession in which the managing owners are resident, or ships not exceeding thirty tons burden, not having a whole or fixed deck, and employed solely in

(c) See Reg. v. Arnaud, 9 Q. B. 817.

(d) See the Naturalization Act, 1870, 33 Vict. c. 14: by sect. 14 of this Act "nothing in this Act contained shall qualify an alien to be the owner of a British ship."

(e) Sects. 18, 38, 39, 53, 55, 81, and 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 3.

(f) Vessels not exceeding this tonnage

were, under 12 & 13 Vict. c. 29, s. 30
(repealed), admitted to be British ships, if
the property of British subjects, and em-
ployed in English and Colonial coast and
river navigation, and it has been held that
such boats or vessels might be transferred
without a bill of sale, &c., as required for
transfer of other vessels.

Part I.

Who are registrars.

fishing or trading coastwise on the shores of Newfoundland or parts adjacent thereto, or in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or on such portion of the coasts of Canada, Nova Scotia, or New Brunswick, as lie bordering on such gulf.

Ships required by the Act to be registered shall not, if unregistered, be recognised as British ships. Officers of customs are not to grant clearance or transire to the master of any ship who does not, on being required to do so, produce the certificate of her registry; and may detain such ship if she attempts to proceed to sea as a British ship without such clearance or transire (a).

2. The Measurement of Tonnage.

For information respecting the mode of admeasurement, which could be useful for any practical purpose, reference must be had to the Act (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104) itself. The object of all rules for measuring ships is to ascertain, with the utmost possible accuracy, the space in them applicable to the carriage of cargo and passengers. After much complaint of the errors of the then existing law, a commission appointed by the government, in 1849, recommended the adoption of a system of external instead of internal measurement. But that plan was found open to serious objections; and one was adopted the result of the study and scientific knowledge of Mr. Moorsom, a member of the commission-which was submitted to and approved of by a large number of intelligent shipowners and others interested in, and acquainted with, the subject (b).

3. The Registry of British Ships.

The following persons are required to register British ships, and are to be deemed registrars for the purposes of the Act:

The collector, comptroller, or principal officer of customs, at any port or place of the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man, approved by the Commissioners of Customs for the registry of ships; the principal officers of customs, and the governor, lieutenant-governor, or other person administering the government of the islands of Guernsey or Jersey; the governor, lieutenant-governor, or person administering the government of Malta, Gibraltar, and Heligoland; the collector of duties, together with the governor, lieutenantgovernor, or other person administering the government at any port or place so approved as aforesaid, and at which no Custom-house is established, within the limits of the charter, but not under the government of the East India Company; at the ports of Calcutta, Madras,

(a) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 19.

(b) Sects. 20-30, amended by 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, s. 14; 35 & 36 Vict. c. 73, s. 3.

As to foreign ships, sec 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 60.

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