be delivered to the registrar, who shall thereupon cause such ship to Chap. 2. be registered anew, in the manner required on the first registry of any ship (ƒ). On failure of such registry anew, or registry of alteration of any ship so altered, it shall not be deemed duly registered or recognised as a British ship (g). The registrar of the ship's port is empowered at the desire of the Re-registry owners upon any change of ownership, and on delivery up to him of on change of ownership. the existing certificate of registry, and compliance with such other requisites as he thinks material, to make registry of the ship anew, and grant certificate thereof, although such registry may not be required by the Act (h). With the object, it is presumed, of facilitating the sale of ships, Transfer of a ship's register may be transferred from one port to another upon one port to register from the application, expressed by a declaration made and subscribed another. by them, of all parties appearing on the register to be interested, whether as owners or mortgagees, whose names, together with all particulars relating to the ship, are to be transmitted, on such application to him, by the registrar of the ship's port to the registrar of the intended port of registry, who is to enter the same in his book, and grant a fresh certificate of registry, which done, the ship is to be considered as belonging to such last-mentioned port, the name of which is to be substituted on her stern in lieu of the name of the port previously appearing thereon (i). As to re-registration of abandoned ships, &c., see 36 & 37 Vict. Re-registra c. 85, s. 6. 9. Registry-Miscellaneous. Under this head are classed in the statute a variety of regulations respecting the inspection of registry books-the application of fees— the indemnities and duties of registrars in exceptional cases-provision for cases of infancy and incapacity-the grant of passes for unregistered ships in special circumstances the liability to penalties of persons interested otherwise than as mortgagees in ships, though not registered as owners-the offence of forging or fraudulently altering any book or document, or entries in and endorsements on them-the admission in evidence of documents, and of examined or certified copies of them-and the national character of ships--most of which are now for the first time enacted (k). Among these the more noticeable are the following: tion of abandoned ships. Any declaration or thing required by the Act to be made or done By whom by a person interested in a ship, which he is incapable by reason of declarations infancy, lunacy, or other inability, from making or doing, may be to be made made or done by his guardian or committee; or, if there be no guar Part I. Who liable to penalties. As to granting a clear ance or transire. improperly using British flag, &c. Ships trading Co.'s charter. dian or committee, by any person appointed by any court having jurisdiction in respect of the property of incapable persons (a). Persons beneficially interested in ships otherwise than as mortgagees, although not registered as owners, are declared liable, separately or jointly with the registered owners, to all pecuniary penalties enforced by this Act, or any other Act, on the owners of ships or shares therein (b). No officer of customs shall grant a clearance or transire for any ship until the master has declared to such officer the name of the nation to which he claims that she belongs, and such officer shall thereupon inscribe such name on the clearance or transire (c). If any person uses the British flag, and assumes the British national character on board any ship, owned in whole or in part by any persons not entitled by law to own British ships, for the purpose of making such ship appear to be a British ship, unless such assumption has been made to escape capture by an enemy, or by a foreign ship of war in exercise of some belligerent right, such ship shall be forfeited to Her Majesty (d). The doing or permitting of anything, or the carrying or permitting to be carried any papers or documents, with intent to conceal the British character of a ship from persons entitled by British law to inquire into the same, or the fraudulent assumption of a foreign character, with intent to deceive any such person, will subject the ship to forfeiture, and render the master, if privy to the commission of such an offence, guilty of a misdemeanor. The like forfeiture attaches to the acquisition, by any unqualified person (except in the case of transmitted interests), of any interest, legal or beneficial, in a ship using a British flag, and assuming the British character (e). Whenever it is declared by this Act that a ship belonging to any person or body corporate, qualified, according to this Act, to be the owner of British ships, shall not be recognized as a British ship, such ship shall not be entitled to any benefits, privileges, advantages, or protection, usually enjoyed by British ships, and shall not be entitled to use the British flag, or assume the British national character; but so far as regards the payment of dues, the liability to fines and penalties, and the punishment of offences committed on board such ship, or by any persons belonging to her, such ship shall be dealt with in all respects as if she were a recognised British ship (ƒ). By section 108 nothing in the Act is to repeal or affect the 3 & 4 within E. I. Vict. c. 56, an Act to regulate the trade of ships built and trading within the limits of the East India Company's charter. Sections 1 to 7 of this Act are repealed as to all Her Majesty's dominions, by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1874, No. 2. (a) Sect. 99. (b) Sect. 100. (c) Sect. 102. (d) Sect. 103; 39 & 40 Vict. c. 80, s. 34. (e) Sect. 103. (f) Sect. 106; the Laura, 3 M. P. C. (N. s.) 181; R. v. Seberg, L. R. 1 C. C. R. 264. 10. Fishery Boats, Lighthouse Boats, and Pleasure Yachts, &c. The third part of the M. S. Act, 1854, is, by the 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 13 (the M. S. Act Amendment Act, 1864), to apply to fishing boats, the boats of lighthouse boards, and pleasure yachts, with certain exceptions. Chap. 2. By 39 & 40 Vict. c. 36 (the Customs Consolidation Act), s. 175, Painting "the owner of every ship belonging wholly or in part to any of name on boats belonging to Her Majesty's subjects, shall paint or cause to be painted upon the a vessel, &c. outside of the stern of every boat belonging to such ship the name of such ship, and the port or place to which she belongs, and the master's name withinside the transom, in white or yellow Roman letters, not less than two inches in length, on a black ground, on pain of the forfeiture of every such boat not so marked, wherever the same shall be found." By section 176, "the owner of every vessel or boat, whether decked, partially decked, or open, not being of the burden of one hundred tons, and not belonging to any ship, shall paint or cause to be painted upon the outside of the stern of such boat, in white or yellow Roman letters, of not less than two inches in length, on a black ground, the name of the owner of the boat, and the port or place to which she belongs, on pain of the forfeiture of such boat not so marked, wherever the same shall be found." 11. Evidence of Declarations and of Books of Registry. Every register of, or declaration made in respect of, any British ship, may be proved in any court of justice, or before any person having by law, or by consent of parties, authority to receive evidence, either by the production of the original, or by an examined copy thereof; or by a copy thereof, purporting to be certified under the hand of the registrar, or other person having the charge of the original, which certified copies he is required to furnish to any person applying at a reasonable time for the same; and every such register, or copy of a register, and also every certificate of registry of any British ship, purporting to be signed by the registrar, or other proper officers, shall be received in evidence as prima facie proof of all the matters contained or recited in such register, when the register or such copy is produced, and of all matters contained in or endorsed on such certificate of registry, and purporting to be authenticated by the signature of a registrar, when such certificate is produced (g). The wording of this section, it will be observed, differs materially from that of the forty-third section of the repealed Act 8 & 9 Vict. c. 89, by which copies of documents, on being proved to be such, were made evidence "as fully and to all intents and purposes as such (9) Sect. 107; as to copy of register books in London being evidence, see 18 & 19 Vict. c. 91, c. 15. Part I original, if produced, could or might legally be admitted or received in evidence" (a). Wherever the title to the ship comes strictly and properly into question, no claim can be received in opposition to the modes of conveyance required by the statutes (b). But there are cases in which the possession of property, and acts of ownership exercised upon it, furnish presumptive evidence of a title to it; and some also, in which the possession alone is sufficient to maintain an action, although the legal title may be outstanding in another. And it has been held that a British ship does not, as to these points, differ from any other sort of property (c). 12. Offence of Forging or Fraudulently altering Documents, and of making False Declarations. Any person who forges or assists in forging or fraudulently altering 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 endorsement required by the second part of the M. S. Act, 1854, is guilty of felony. Any person who wilfully makes a false declaration touching the qualification of himself, or of others, to own British ships, or shares therein, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and the ship or share of the declarant, to the extent of his interest, and the interest of any parties on behalf of whom such false declaration is made (unless it is shown to have been made without their authority), is forfeited to H. M. (d). And 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 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, or in any documents or other evidence produced to such registrars, 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 in any ship, or utters, produces, or makes use of any declaration or document containing any such false statement, knowing it to be false, is guilty of a misdemeanor (e). (a) The following cases were decided under the repealed Act :-Stokes v. Carne and others, 2 Camp. Rep. at N. P. 339; Frazer v. Hopkins, 2 Taunt. 5; Smith v. Fuge, 3 Camp. 456; Reusse v. Meyers, ib. 475; Rands v. Thomas, 5 M. & S. 244; Teed v. Martin, 4 Camp. 90; Tinkler v. Walpole, 14 East, 226; Cooper v. South, 4 Taunt. 802; Flower v. Young, 3 Camp. 240; MacIver v. Humble, 16 East, 169; Pirie v. Anderson, 4 Taunt. 652. (b) Follett v. Delany, 2 De Gex & Sm. 235; and see M'Calmont v. Rankin, 21 L. T. 1; 8 Hare 1. (c) The Nostra Signora de los Delores, 1 Dodson, 290; Robertson v. French, 4 East, 130; Sheriff v. Cadell, 2 Esp. 617; Amery v. Rogers, 1 Esp. 207; Thomas v. Foyle, 5 Esp. N. P. C. 88; Rickman v. Carstairs, 5 B. & Adol. 654; Sutton v. Buck, 2 Taunt. 302, an action against a wrongdoer. (d) Sect. 103. (e) And see, as to the punishment of misdemeanors under this Act and the application of penalties of the Act, Part X. of the Act, sect. 517, et seq. CHAPTER III. OF PART-OWNERS OF SHIPS; AND HEREIN, SECT. 1. Of their legal relation to each other as Tenants in Common, or as Partners 2. Regulations for the enjoyment of their Common Property in case of Disagree- 3. Jurisdiction exercised for that object by the High Court of Admiralty in 4. Power of one Part-owner to bind the others by his Contracts. Authority of Ship's Husband, p. 61. Office and 5. Adjustment of the Interest of Part-owners on Bankruptcy of one of them, 6. Ship's Accounts, how adjusted between Part-owners, p. 68. 7. Interest of Part-owners as to Strangers. Who should sue or be sued, p. 69. 1. Of their Legal relations to each other as Tenants in Common, or as Partners and Joint-Tenants. A SHIP is usually conveyed [to different persons, in several and distinct shares, and consequently the several part-owners thereby become tenants in common with each other of their respective shares; each having a distinct, although undivided interest in the whole; and upon the death of any one, his share goes to his own personal representatives, and does not accrue to the others by survivorship (f). It is proposed to consider the nature of their interest,] () [This is the most usual practice. If the interests are not severed and distinguished in this way, but the entire ship is granted to a number of persons generally, it is apprehended they become joint-tenants at law; and that the rule jus accrescendi inter mercatores locum non habet, which is applicable to a ship, is to be enforced only in a court of equity.] As to the superior courts of law and equity now being united, see Preface to this ed. Judge STORY (Amer. edit. p. 68), says that this note was not written by the author, but by the editor of the fifth edition of this work; but the learned judge is mistaken: there is no doubt that the doctrine in the note carries with it the weight of the late Chief Justice's authority. In the text of the three first editions of the Treatise it was stated, without qualifi- Chap. 3. |