FERRY, a place where boats ply regularly across a river or arm of the sea for the conveyance of goods and persons. In law the right of ferrying persons or goods across a particular river or strait, and of exacting a reasonable toll for the service, belongs, like the right of fair and market, to the class of rights known as franchises (see FRANCHISE). Its origin must. be by statute, royal grant or prescription. It is wholly unconnected with the owner ship or occupation of land, so that the owner of a ferry need not be proprietor of the soil on either side of the water over which the right is exercised. He is bound to maintain safe and suitable boats ready f-or the use of the public, and to employ fit persons as ferrymen. As a correlative of this duty he has a right of action, not only against those who evade or refuse payment of toll when it is due, but also against those who disturb his franchise by set ting up a new ferry, so as to diminish his custom, unless a change of circumstances, such as an increase of population near the ferry, justify other means of passage, whether of the same kind or not. (See also WATER RIGHTS; SHIP: Ferry Steamers, Train Ferries.) a boat used for ferrying passengers and vehicles (see FERRY). The floor plan of the large, modern ferry boat is roughly divided into five parts. The inner section is devoted to power; two surrounding passages running the length of the boat hold one or two lines of vehicles; while the two outer sections are arranged as cabins for passengers, one serving as a smoking room, and one as a ladies' cabin. Many have two decks, with a closed cabin and a promenade on the upper.