Under the head of "Discipline," power is given to any Court having Admiralty jurisdiction in any of her Majesty's dominions, upon application of the owner or his agent, of the consignee, certificated mate, or of one third or more of the crew of a ship, and upon proof on oath to the satisfaction of such Court, that the removal of the master of a ship is necessary, to remove him accordingly; and, with the consent of the owner or his agent, or the consignee of the ship, if within the jurisdiction, and, if not, without such consent, to appoint a new master in his stead (s. 240.).

Sea-faring persons whom masters of ships are compelled to convey, and persons going to sea in ships without leave, are to be subject to the same laws and regulations for preserving discipline, and to the same penalties for its breach, as if they were members of the crew, and had signed the agreement (s. 245.).

Absence from the ship, duly recorded in the official log book, will, whenever a question arises respecting the forfeiture of a seaman's wages for desertion, throw upon him the onus of proof, that he had sufficient reasons for leaving the ship (s. 250.).

If, during the progress of a voyage, the master is superseded, or for any other reason quits the ship, he shall deliver to his successor the various documents relating to the navigation of the ship, and, in default, incur a penalty of One Hundred Pounds (s. 259.).

For the enactments relating to Naval Courts on the high seas and abroad, for the purpose of hearing complaints and investigating wrecks, the reader is referred to the Statute (s. 260.).

Persons charged with the commission upon the high seas of offences against. property or persons may be sent for trial to the United Kingdom as heretofore, or any British possession in which there is a Court capable of taking cognizance of the offence charged (s. 268.).

Inquiry into the cause of death happening on board a foreign going ship is to be made on its arrival by the shipping master; and if, in the course of such inquiry, it appears to him that any such death has been caused by violence or other improper means, he shall either report the matter to the Board of Trade, or, if the emergency of the case so requires, take immediate steps for bringing the offender or offenders to justice (s. 269.).

The provisions concerning register tickets are omitted, that system having been discontinued; but the Act provides "that there shall be in the Port of London a "General Register and Record Office of Seamen;" and the Registrar General of Seamen shall, by means of the agreements, lists in forms sanctioned by the Board of Trade, and other papers to be transmitted to him as the Act directs, or by such other means as are in his power, keep a register of all persons who serve in ships (s. 271.).

An official log, in the form sanctioned for different classes of ships by the Board of Trade (containing blanks for the entries which the Act requires), shall be kept, either distinct from the ordinary ship log or united therewith, in every ship, except ships employed exclusively in trading between ports on the coasts of the United Kingdom (s. 280.).

PART IV.

FOR SAFETY AND PREVENTION OF ACCIDENTS.

Tis part contains a variety of provisions relating to boats for sea-going vessels, lights, and fog-signals, the meeting and passing of vessels, the build and equipment of steam-ships, the survey of passenger ships, the misconduct of passengers in steamers, accidents, and the carrying of dangerous goods; which are for the most part re-enactments, and effect little alteration of the law as enacted by recent statutes. It applies to all British ships; and all Foreign steam ships carrying

passengers between places in the United Kingdom are to be subject to its provisions, and to the same provisions with respect to the certificates of the masters and mates thereof to which British steam ships are subject (s. 291.).

The Admiralty may, if they think fit, make regulations requiring the use of such fog signals, by such classes of ships, whether steam or sailing ships, within such places and under such circumstances as they think fit, and may, from time to time, vary the same (s. 295.).

The rule as to ships meeting each other, 14th and 15th Vict., cap. 79, sec. 27, is altered as follows:

Whenever any ship, whether a steam or sailing ship, proceeding in one direction, meets another ship, whether a steam or sailing ship, proceeding in another direction, so that if both ships were to continue their respective courses they would pass so near as to involve any risk of collision, the helms of both ships shall be put to port, so as to pass on the port side of each other; and this rule shall be obeyed by all steam ships and by all sailing ships, whether on the port or starboard tack, and whether close-hauled or not, unless the circumstances of the case render a departure from the rule necessary, in order to avoid immediate danger, and subject to the proviso that due regard shall be had to the dangers of navigation, and, as regards sailing ships on the starboard tack close-hauled, to the keeping such ships under command (s. 296.).

Every steam ship, when navigating any narrow channel, shall whenever it is safe and practicable keep to that side of the fair way or mid channel which lies on the starboard side of such steam ship (s. 297.).

Shelter for deck passengers is to be provided under the direction of the Board of Trade in every home-trade sea ship employed to carry passengers by sea (s. 301.). The master of any home-trade passenger steam ship may refuse to receive on board, and may put on shore, any person who, by reason of drunkenness or otherwise, is in such a state, or so misconducts himself, as to cause annoyance to other passengers, without returning any fare which may have been paid by him (s. 325.).

Reports of serious accidents to steam ships, and notice of the apprehended loss of steam ships, are to be forwarded to the Board of Trade; and in every case of collision, when practicable, the master shall, immediately after the occurrence, cause a statement thereof, and of the circumstances under which the same occurred, to be entered in the official log book (s. 328.).

Masters are not to be compelled to take dangerous goods; and notice, by exterior marks on the packages containing them, or otherwise in writing, is to be given to the master or owner; and they may refuse to take on board any parcel that they suspect to contain goods of a dangerous nature, and require them to be opened to ascertain the fact (s. 329.).

Part V., relating to Pilotage-Part VI., to Lighthouses-Part VII., to the Mercantile Marine Fund, and Part VIII., relating to Wrecks and Casualties, are for the most part re-enactments with some modification of regulations now in force, and involve no important innovation or alteration in the principle of the existing law.

The fourth and ninth sections of the Pilotage Law Amendment Act (1853) shall be construed as if this part were therein referred to instead of 6 Geo. 4. c. 125 (a).

Home-trade passenger ships, when navigating in any waters within the limits of a pilotage district, are to take on board a qualified pilot, unless they (a) The whole of the General Pilot Act, 6 Geo. 4. c. 125., and the whole of the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 129., "An Act further to amend the Laws relating to Pilotage," except sections 3, 4, 8. 10, 11, 12, 13. and so much of section 9. as relates to the recovery of pilotage rates by Cinque Port

carry a master or mate who has a pilotage certificate, enabling him to pilot the ship within such district (s. 354.).

No owner or master of any ship shall be answerable to any person whatever for any loss or damage occasioned by the fault or incapacity of any qualified pilot in charge of such ship within any district where the employment of such pilot is compulsory (a).

PART IX.

LIABILITY OF SHIPOWNERS.

THE provisions of this part, which applies to the whole of Her Majesty's dominions, are under the 14th section of the Merchant Shipping Acts Repeal Act, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120., now in operation.

They are the result of great consideration, and may probably be thought to have effected as reasonable an adjustment between the owners of sea-going ships, and persons sustaining damage from personal injury or loss of life by reason of the improper navigation of them, as the nature of the case admits.

The law which exempts shipowners from liability for loss or damage happening without their fault or privity to any goods, merchandise, or other things, by reason of fire, and (unless the owner or shipper of gold, silver, diamonds, watches, jewels, or precious stones, has notified in the bills of lading, or otherwise in writing, their true nature and value) for loss or damage by reason of the robbery or embezzlement of them, is not altered (s. 503.).

The principle of the law which limits the liability of a shipowner, in the case of damage or loss happening without his actual fault or privity to any goods or merchandise on board his ship, or for loss or damage by reason of its improper navigation to any other ship or boat, or to goods and merchandise on board any other ship or boat, to the value of his ship and freight (including the value of the carriage of his own goods, ships' hire beginning to be earned within six months of such loss or damage, and passage money (b)) is extended to cases of damage from personal injury or loss of life with this important proviso, "that in no case where any such liability is incurred in respect of loss of life or personal injury to any "passengers, shall the value of any such ship, and the freight thereof, be taken "to be less than fifteen pounds per registered ton" (ss. 504,505.).

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It was felt on the one hand that to exempt shipowners altogether from liability, under Lord Campbell's Act (c) "For Compensating the Families of Persons "killed by Accidents," or from liability beyond the value of ship and freight, would be an encouragement for unprincipled persons to employ worn-out and inadequately-manned vessels in the conveyance of passengers and emigrants; and, on the other, that to subject shipowners guilty of no actual fault or default to unlimited liability for such calamities, would induce men of property and character to withdraw their fortunes from so great a hazard.

To prevent as much as possible of both these evils, and to ensure to persons, often of small ability, sustaining personal injury or injury from loss of life, an effectual recourse (the best of all protections) against those, to the improper navigation of whose ships it may be imputable, the new Act empowers the Board of Trade, in all cases of alleged liability in respect of loss of life or personal in

(a) The law is thus declared in conformity with the decision of Dr. Lushington on the 25th section of the 6 Geo. IV. c. 125. (the General Pilotage Act now in force) in the case of the Protector. W. Rob. Adm. Rep. p. 45., and see other cases at pp. 177, 178. of the Treatise on Merchant Ships and Seamen.

(b) Passage money is not in terms included in the value by the 53 Geo. III. c. 159. (c) 9 & 10 Vict. c. 93.

jury, by warrant sealed with its seal, or signed by one of its secretaries, to require the sheriff to summon a jury, for the purpose of ascertaining "the number, names, and descriptions of "all persons killed or injured by reason of any wrongful act, neglect, or default." (s. 507.)

At such inquiry, the sheriff is to preside, the Board of Trade to be the plaintiff, and the shipowner, by whom such liability is alleged to have been incurred, the defendant. Either party may require the question to be tried by a special jury; and in England and Ireland, if the Board of Trade requires it, or the defendant requires and the Board of Trade assents to it, the sheriff shall appoint as assessor a barrister of competent knowledge and standing. The costs to be taxed by a Master of the Superior Courts as between attorney and client in England, and by the Auditor of the Court of Session, as between agent and client in Scotland, are to be borne by the party losing the verdict, and, if the Board of Trade should lose it, they are to be paid out of the Mercantile Marine Fund (ss. 508, 509.).

The Board of Trade may make any compromise it thinks fit, as to the damages which are in each case of death or injury to be assessed at thirty pounds, and be the first charge on the aggregate amount for which the owner is liable, and be paid thereout, in priority to all other claims, to Her Majesty's Paymaster-General, to be distributed and dealt with by him in such manner as the Board of Trade directs (s. 509.).

The Board, in directing the distribution, may, in the first place, deduct and retain any costs incidental thereto; in the next place, it shall direct payment of compensation, not exceeding in any case the statutory amount to each person injured; and as regards the sums paid in respect of deaths, payment thereof, for the benefit of the husband, wife, parent, and child of the deceased, or any of them, in such shares, upon such evidence, and in such manner as it thinks fit (s. 510.).

Should the amount paid to the Paymaster-General be insufficient to meet the demands upon it, the several claims thereon are to abate proportionally (s. 510.). If after the completion of the inquiry any person estimates the damages payable to him in respect of personal injury, or of any death, at a greater sum than the statutory amount or compromise made by the Board, he will on repaying or obtaining repayment by the Board of Trade to the shipowner of such amount or compromise be at liberty to bring an action against him for damages, which shall be payable out of the residue only of the aggregate amount for which the owner is liable, after deducting all sums paid to the Paymaster-General; and if the damages recovered by such person do not exceed double the statutory amount, he shall pay to the defendant all the costs of the action as between attorney and client in England and Ireland, and in Scotland as between agent and client (s. 511.).

In cases where several claims are made or apprehended against an owner for loss of life, personal injury, or loss of or damage to ships, boats, or goods, the Court of Chancery in England and Ireland, and the Court of Session in Scotland, and any competent Court in a British possession, are empowered to entertain proceedings at the suit of such owner for the purpose of determining the amount of his liabilities, and for the distribution rateably of such amount, and to stop all actions and suits pending in any other Court in relation to the same subject matter (s. 514.).

All sums of money paid for or on account of any loss or damage, in respect of which the liability of owners is limited by this part, and all costs incurred in relation thereto, may be brought into account among part-owners of the same ship in the same manner as money disbursed for the use thereof (s. 515.).

PART X.

LEGAL PROCEDURE.

For the detail of the alterations made by this Part, which applies to the whole of her Majesty's dominions, in the procedure under the existing Acts, the reader must be referred to the Statute.

The following are the more noticeable provisions:

Every offence declared by the Act to be a misdemeanour, shall be deemed an offence made punishable by imprisonment for any period not exceeding six months, with or without hard labour, or by a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds; and may be prosecuted accordingly in a summary manner, instead of being prosecuted as a misdemeanour (s. 518.).

Jurisdiction is given to justices over ships and boats, lying in waters adjacent to the district for which they act, and over all persons on board such ships and boats, or for the time being belonging thereto (s. 521.).

Penalties not specifically appropriated by the Act may be applied by any Court, Justice, or Magistrate imposing them, to the compensation in whole or in part of any person for any wrong or damage which he may have sustained by the act or default in respect of which such penalty is imposed, or towards the expenses of the proceedings (s. 524.).

Documents which the Act requires to be attested, may be proved by persons who have knowledge of the requisite facts, without calling the attesting witness (s. 526.).

PART XI.

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE legislative authority of any British Possession shall have power, by any Act or Ordinance confirmed by her Majesty in Council, to repeal wholly or in part any provisions of this Act relating to ships registered in such possession (s. 547.).