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tration. The law does not say that a ship shall or must be registered, but that certain ships or vessels may be; and, if they are registered, they shall have certain privileges. And the disadvantage of being without registry operates as effectually to make registration universal, as a positive requirement with a heavy penalty could do.

The ships which may be registered are those already regis tered December 31st, 1792, under the act of September, 1789. those built within the United States, and owned wholy by cititens thereof; and those captured and condemned as prizes, or adjudged forfeited by violation of law, if at the time of registry they are owned wholly by citizens of this country. No ship can be registered if an owner or part-owner usually resides abroad, although he is a citizen, unless he is a consul of the United States, or agent for, and a partner in a mercantile house established and doing business here; nor if the master be not a citizen of the United States; nor if the owner or partowner be a naturalized citizen, and reside in the country whence he came more than a year, or in any foreign country more than two years, unless he be consul or public agent of the United States. But a ship which has lost the benefits of registry by the non-residence of an owner, in such a case may be registered anew if she become the property of a resident citizen, by bona fide purchase; nor can a ship be registered which has been, at any time, the property of an alien, unless she becomes the property of the original owner or his represen tative.

Sometimes Congress, by special acts, permits the registra tion, as an American ship, of a vessel which has become, by purchase, American property. If a registered American ship be sold or transferred, in whole or in part, to an alien, the cer tificate of registry must be delivered up, or the vessel i forfeited; but if, in case of a sale in part, it can be shown tha any owner of a part not so sold was ignorant of the sale, his share shall not be subject to such forfeiture. As soon as a reg. istered vessel arrives from a foreign port, her documents must be deposited with the collector of the port of arrival, and the owner, or, if he does not reside within the district, the master,

must make oath that the register contains the names of al persons who are at that time owners of the ship, and at the same time report any transfer of the ship, or of any part, that has been made within his knowledge since the registry; and also declare that no foreigner has any interest in the ship. If a register be issued fraudulently, or with the knowledge of the owners, for a ship not entitled to one, the register is not only void, but the ship is forfeited. If a new register is issued, the old one must be given up; but where there is a sale by process of law, and the former owners withhold the register, the Secretary of the Treasury may authorize the collector to issue a new one. If a ship be transferred while at sea, or abroad, the old register must be given up, and all the requirements of law, as to registry, etc., must be complied with, within three days after her arrival at the home port.

Important exclusive privileges have been granted to regis tered vessels of the United States. Some of these, relating to foreign commerce, have since been withdrawn, but Rev. Stat. of U. S., § 4347 still provides that no merchandise shall be carried from port to port in the United States, by any foreign vessel, unless it formed a part of its original cargo.

A ship that is of twenty tons burden, to be employed in the fisheries, or in the coasting trade, need not be registered, but must be enrolled and licensed accordingly. If under twenty tons burden, she need only be licensed. If licensed for the fisheries, she may visit and return from foreign ports, having stated her intention of doing so, and being permitted by the collector. And if registered, she may engage in the coasting trade or fishery, and if licensed and enrolled, she may become a registered ship, subject to the regulations provided for such

cases.

A ship that is neither registered nor licensed and enrolled can sail on no voyage with the privilege or protection of a national character or national papers. If she engages in foreign trade, or the coasting trade, or fisheries, she is liable to for feiture; and if she have foreign goods on board, must at all

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events pay the tonnage duties leviable on foreign ships. these days, no ship engaged in honest business, and belonging to a civilized people, is met with on the ocean, without having the regular papers which attest her nationality, unless she has lost them by some accident.

SECTION II.

TRANSFER OF PROPERTY IN A SHIP.

Revised Statutes, § 4170, provides, that, "in every case ot sale or transfer, there shall be some instrument in writing, in the nature of a bill of sale, which shall recite at length the said certificate; otherwise the said ship or vessel shall be incapable of being registered anew." It follows, therefore, that a merely oral transfer, although for valuable consideration, and followed by possession, gives the transferee no right to claim a new register setting forth his ownership. But this is all. There is nothing in this statute to prevent the property from passing to and vesting in such transferee. It is, however, unquestionably a principle of the maritime law generally, that property in a ship should pass by a written instrument. And as this principle seems to be adopted by the statute, the courts have sometimes almost denied the validity of a merely parol transfer. The weight of authority and of reason is, however, undoubtedly in favor of the conclusion stated by Judge Story, that "the registry acts have not, in any degree, changed the common law as to the manner of transferring this species of property." It would follow, therefore, that such transfer would be valid, and would pass the property.

Rev. Stat., § 4192, provides "that no bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or conveyance of any vessel or part of any vessel of the United States, shall be valid against any person other than the grantor or mortgagor, his heirs and devisees, and persons having actual notice thereof: unless such bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or conveyance be recorded in the office. of the collector of the customs where such vessel is registered or

enrolled." Then follows an exception in favor of liens by bot. tomry, and in subsequent sections are provisions for recording by the collector, and giving certificates, etc.

This statute has no effect, that I perceive, upon oral transfers, excepting that, as they cannot be recorded, their operation is limited to the grantors and those who have actual notice. Where the transfer is by bill of sale, the record of this, under the late statute, is notice to all the world. But in most of our States there are already provisions for the record of mortgages of personal property, and the question arises how these are affected by this statute of the United States. I should say that it controlled and superseded the State statute, so as to make that unnecessary and ineffectual; and therefore a record in the custom-house only would be sufficient, and a record under the State Law would affect only those who had actual knowledge of it.

As a ship is a chattel, a transfer of it should be accompanied by a delivery of possession. Actual delivery is sometimes im possible where a ship is at sea; and the statute of 1850 makes the record of the transfer equivalent to change of possession. If there be no record, possession should be taken as soon as possible; and prudence would still require the same course in case of transfer by writing and record.

By the word "ship," and still more by the phrase "ship and her appurtenances," or "apparel," or "furniture," everything would pass which was distinctly connected with the ship, and is on board of her, and fastened to her if that be usual, and needed for her navigation or for her safety. Kentledge, a valuable kind of permanent ballast, has been held to pass with the ship; so have a rudder and cordage prepared for a vessel, but not yet attached to her, and not quite finished; and so would a boat, anchors, etc., generally. But the answer to the question, What is part of the ship? must always depend somewhat upon the words of the instrument, and upon the circumstances of the case and the intention of the parties.

A sale by the decree of any regular court of admiralty, with due notice to all parties, and with proper precautions to protect the interests of all, and to guard against fraud or precipitancy,

would undoubtedly be acknowledged by courts of admiralty or every other nation as transferring the property effectually.

SECTION III.

PART-OWNERS.

Two or more persons may become part-owners of a ship, in either of three ways. They may build it together, or join in purchasing it, or each may purchase his share independently of the others. In either case their rights and obligations are the

same.

If the register, or the instrument of transfer, or other equiv alent evidence, do not designate specific and unequal proportions, they will be presumed to own the ship in equal shares.

Part-owners are not necessarily or usually partners. But a ship, or any part of a ship, may constitute a part of the stock or capital of a copartnership; and then it will be governed, in all respects, by the law of partnership.

A part-owner may at any time sell his share to whom he will. But he cannot sell the share of any other part-owner, without his authority. If he dies, his share goes to his representatives, and not to the surviving part-owners.

A majority of the part-owners may, generally, manage and direct the employment of the property at their discretion. But a court of admiralty will interfere and do justice between them, and prevent either of the part-owners from inflicting injury upon

the others.

One part-owner may, in the absence of the rest, and without prohibition from them, manage the ship, as for himself and for them. And the contracts he enters into, in relation to the employment or preservation of the ship, bind all the part-owners in favor of an innocent third party.

Formerly all the part-owners were liable, but by act of Con. gress of June 26, 1884, it is now provided "that the individual liability of a ship-owner shall be limited to the proportion of any or all debts and liabilities that his individual share of the vessel bears to the whole; and the aggregate liabilities of all the owners of a vessel on account of the same shall not exceed

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