[PARLIAMENT.
BOTTOMRi, BOTTOMREE, or BUMMAREE, is a term derived into the English maritime law from the Dutch or Low German. In Dutch the term is Bomerie or Bodemery, and in German Bodmerei. It is said to be originally derived from Boden or Bodem, which in Low German and Dutch formerly signi fied the bottom or keel of a ship; and according to a common process in lan guage. the part being applied to the whole, also denoted the ship itself. The same word, differently written, has been used in a similar manner in the English language ; the expression bottom having been commonly used to signify a ship, previously to the seventeenth century, and being at the present day well known in that sense as a mercantile phrase. Thus it is a familiar mode of expression among merchants to speak of " shipping goods in foreign bottoms." The contract of bottomry in maritime law is a pledge of the ship as a security for the repayment of money advanced to an owner for the purpose of enabling him to carry on the voyage. It is un derstood in this contract, which is usu ally expressed in the form of a bond, called a Bottomry Bond, that if the ship be lost on the voyage, the lender loses the whole of his money ; but if the ship and tackle reach the destined port, they become immediately liable, as well as the person of the borrower, for the money lent, and also the premium or interest stipulated to be paid upon the loan. No objection can be made on the ground of usury, though the stipulated premium exceeds the legal rate of interest, because the lender is liable to the casualties of the voyage, and is not to receive his money again at all events. In France the con tract of bottomry is called Contrat a la grosse, and in Italy Cambio maritimo, and is subject to different regulations by the respective maritime laws of those coun tries. But money is generally raised in this way by the master of the ship when he is abroad and requires money to re pair the vessel or to procure other things that are necessary to enable him to com plete his voyage. If several bottomry bonds are given by the master for the same ship at different times, that which is later in point of time must be satisfied first, according to a rule derived from the Roman law (Dig. 20, tit. 4, s. 5, 6) : the reason of this rule is, that a subsequent lender by his loan preserves the security of a prior lender. It is a rule of Eng
lish law that there must be a real neces sity to justify the master in borrowing on the security of his ship.
In taking up money upon Bottomry, the loan is made upon the security of the ship alone ; but when the advance is made upon the lading, then the borrower is said to take up money at respondentia. In this distinction as to the subject matter o the security consists the only difference between Bottomry and Respondentia ; the rules of English maritime law being equally applicable to both.
The practice of lending money on ships or their cargo, and sometimes on the freight was common in Athens, an0 in other Greek commercial towns. Money thus lent was sometimes called (vaurisca xpiPara) ship-money. Demosthenes (I. Against Aphobus), in making a statement of the property left him by his father, enumerates seventy mime lent on bot tomry. If the ship and cargo were lost, the lender could not recover his princi pal or interest; which stipulation was often expressly made in the (ffeyyptutrh) bond. (Demosthenes against Phormion, and against Dionrodorns, c. 6, 10.) The nature of the bottomry contract is shown in the Oration of Demosthenes against Dionysodorns:-3000 drachmm were lent on a ship, on condition of her sailing to Egypt and returning to Athens ; the money was lent on the double voyage, and the borrower contracted in writing to return direct to Athens, and not dis pose of his cargo of Egyptian grain at any other place. He violated his contract by selling his cargo at Rhodes, having been advised by his partner at Athens that the price of grain had fallen in that city since the departure of the vessel. The plaintiff sought to recover principal and interest, of which the borrower at tempted to defraud him : damages also were claimed, conformably to the terms of the bond. As neither principal nor interest could be demanded if the vessel were lost, it was a common plea on the part of the borrower that the ship was wrecked. The rate of interest for money thus lent was of course higher than the usual rate. The speech of Demosthenes Against Lacritns contains a complete Bot tomry contract, which clearly shows the nature of these loans at Athens.