PASSENGERS IN SHIPS.—The general principles that govern the rights and obligations of carriers of passengers by sea are very much the same as those incidental to the carriage of passengers by land, the most important modifications being the subject of special statutory provisions. As instances of these modifications may be mentioned the LIMITATION OF LIABILITY of shipowners in respect of damages for casualties, and also the enactments of the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 and 1906, referred to below. A passenger may, as a rule, leave the ship at any time or place he pleases during the voyage, but so long as he remains on board he is under the absolute control of the captain. Moreover, he is bound to do whatever is absolutely necessary for the safety of the ship, whether arising from perils of the sea or enemies ; and in case of refusal, he may be subjected to restraint or imprisonment, and perhaps in extreme cases to coercion. If he remains in a ship and assists her in distress, he is entitled to remuneration for that assistance. And it would seem that if a passenger thwarts the captain in the due exercise of his authority and the discharge of his duty, he may lawfully be put under restraint and imprisonment, provided the necessity of the case is not exceeded. A shipowner is not taken to warrant the seaworthiness and fitness of his ship, for he is absolved from all responsibility if he has rendered her as seaworthy and fit as care and skill make possible. Both in respect of the person of the passenger and his luggage the shipowner is liable, as a rule, for the acts of those whom he employs to navigate his ship, provided they are done within the scope of their employment. And this is so though the acts complained of are not merely wrong but even criminal. If, however, luggage is kept under the control of the passenger the general liability of the shipowner may thereby be modified or excluded. And so also may it be modified or excluded in respect of the passenger himself, and the luggage, by reason of special conditions contained in the contract for the passage ; but where the shipowner relies upon such conditions he must prove that they have been brought to the notice of the passenger. Whether or not a passen ger has had sufficient notice is always a question of fact depending upon the particular.circumstances of the case. Such notice would probably not be considered to have been given if, in the case of an ignorant steerage passenger for example, the conditions were printed inside the fold of the ticket in such a manner that he would not see them (Richardson v. Rowntrce); but it would be otherwise, undoubtedly, if on the face of the ticket appeared a bold intimation that on the back or in the fold were certain conditions relating to the terms of carriage.
Statutory part of such of these as are contained in the Merchant Shipping Acts in respect of passengers and passenger ships may perhaps be usefully noticed here.
Passenger steamers.—Such a steamer is expressly defined as "a British or foreign steamship carrying passengers to, from, or between any places in the United King dom, except steam ferry-boats working in chains (commonly called steam bridges) and every foreign steamship carrying passengers between places in the United Kingdom." The expression" passenger" includes any person carried in a ship other than the master and crew, and the owner, his family, and servants. A pas senger steamer which carries more than twelve passengers must be surveyed at least once a year, and cannot proceed to sea without a certificate of the survey. The certificate is issued by the Board of Trade only after they have received the report of the official surveyors, and when the report justifies its issue. This report is called a "declaration," and it should be forwarded to the Board of Trade -within fourteen days of its receipt by the owner of the steamer. Ile incurs a penalty for delay in duly forwarding this document. Should it be refused him by the surveyors, or should the nature of its contents not satisfy hini, the owner has a right to appeal to the local court of survey. The certificate must be renewed annually. And it can be cancelled by the Board of Trade in case (a) a declaration of survey on which the certificate was founded has been in any particular made fraudulently or erroneously ; or (6) the certificate has been issued upon false or erroneous information ; or (c) since the making of the declaration, the hull, equipments, or machinery have sustained an injury, or are otherwise insufficient. The certificate inust always be conspicuously posted up in the ship, or otherwise the owner or master will incur a penalty. And it is a mis demeanour to fraudulently alter or forge such a certificate. No more passengers can be carried than the certificate allows. If the master or owner allows an excess he renders himself liable to a fine of £20 and also to an additional fine of five shillings for every passenger above the number allowed, or if the fare of any passenger on board exceeds five shillings, then double the amount of the fares of all the passengers above the number allowed, reckoned at the highest rate of fare payable by any passenger on board. And further, also under a penalty, the owner must rnaintain the equipment of a steamer with compasses, hose, deck shelters, and safety appliances ; and on no account can any one increase the prescribed weight on the safety-valve.