PHYSICIANS AND Any person, without any legal qualification, may freely practise medicine and surgery, but he cannot recover any fees for his services, and will incur heavy penalties if he describes or holds himself out as a legal/y qualified medical pmctitioner. In order to obtain a legal qualification the practi tioner must have passed through the prescribed course of education, obtained certain necessary diplomas, and have his name inscribed on the medical register. A registered practitioner has by virtue of his registration full authority to practise all branches of medicine, surgery, and midwifery. One of the penalties above referred to is that of .e9.0 imposed upon any one " who shall wilfully and falsely pretend to be, or take or use the name or title of, a physician, doctor of medicine, licentiate in medicine and surgery, bachelor of medicine, surgeon, general practitioner or apothecary, or any name, title, addition, or description implying that he is registered or that he is recog nised by law as a physician, or surgeon, or licentiate in medicine and surgery, or a practitioner in medicine, or an apothecary." A medical practitioner, like any other person who holds himself out as qualified to practise a particular profession, must be actually possessed of specialised skill reasonably competent for the task he undertakes (Harmer v. Cornelius). This rule applies equally to legally qualified and to unqualified practitioners. If the practitioner has not that skill, or exercises it negli gently, when attending a particular case, he is liable to damages in respect of the consequences (Scare v. Prentice; Ruddock v. Lowe ; Jones v. Fay). And should his lack of skill, or his negligence, be so gross and extreme as to warrant a jury finding that it is actually " felonious," the practitioner will incur a criminal responsibility (R. v. Long; R. v. Noakes). See CHEMISTS ; DENTISTS; MIDWIVES.
PILOT.—This is the name applied to the person taken on board a ship at a particular place for the purpose of navigating the ship through a river, road, or channel, or from or into a port. In certain circumstances and places the master of a ship is bound by law to employ a pilot. When the ship is thus compulsorily under the control of the pilot it follows, reasonably, that all responsibility in respect of the navigation of the ship is assumed by the pilot, and that the master and owners are relieved therefrom and from any corresponding liability. But the latter will nevertheless incur a liability for the consequences of any acts done by the nmster and crew in opposition to or neglect of the orders of the pilot. If, however, the pilot is incapable—by sickness or drunkenness for example—of performing his duties, or is incom petent, it then becomes the duty of the master to reassume his authority and ordinary responsibility. It has been said, in the old Lex Mercatoria, that if
the fault of a pilot be so notorious that the ship's crew see an apparent wreck, they may lead him to the hatches and strike off his head ! But the common law, very properly, " denies this hasty execution." When a pilot is taken on board at the discretion of the master, and not under any legal compulsion, the liability of the owners of the ship remains unaffected, for a pilot under such circumstances is but one of their servants for the time being. The law relating to pilots and pilotage is now consolidated in the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1891 and 190G, a rilsant( of the material provisions whereof now follows. A pilot may now, in general, enjoy the advantages of the Workmen's Compensation et.
Compulsory _pilotage.—Subject to any alteration which may be made by the Board of Trade or by any pilotage authority, the employment of pilots con tinues to be compulsory in all districts where it was compulsory immediately before the...commencement of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1S94, but all ex emptions from that compulsory pilotage continue to be in force. If, within a district where pilotage is compulsory, the master of an unexempted ship, after a qualified pilot has offered to take charge of the ship, or has made a signal for the purpose, pilots his ship himself without holding the necessary certificate, he renders himself liable to a fine of double the amount of the pilotage dues that could be demanded for the conduct of the ship. The master of a ship carrying passengers to and fro between places in the British Islands is required, while navigating within the limits of' a district for which pilots are licensed, to employ a qualified pilot, unless he or the mate bolds a pilotage certificate or a certificate for the district ; in default he is liable for each offence to a fine of 1100. The Board of Trade, on being satisfied, by examination or otherwise, of the competency of such a master or mate, may grant him a certificate authorising him to pilot any ship belonging to the same owner and not being of greater draught of water than that stated in the certificate within those limits ; and any master or mate to whom the certificate is granted is entitled to conduct the specified ship within the limits of the certificate. The latter remains in force for such time as the Board of Trade may direct, and may be indorsed on any certificate of competency. On the application for such a certificate the fees payable to the Board of Trade must not exceed tnose payable on an examination for a master's certificate of competency.