3. Of the Carriage of Goods and Pas sengers, 6-c. The contracts under which goods are conveyed in a ship are the con tract by charter-party and the contract for their conveyance by a general ship. A charter-party is a contract by which an entire ship, or some principal part thereof, is let to a merchant for the con veyance of goods on a determined voyage to one or more places." A chart. r-party is a written instrument, generally. though not necessarily, under seal, which is exe cuted by the owners or the master, or the owners and the master of the one part, and by the merchant or his agent of the other p irt. The word charter-party is derived from two words charts partita, " divided charter," because the duplicates of the agreement were formerly written on one piece of paper or parchment and after wards divided by cutting through some word or figure so as to enable each party to identify the agreement produced by the other. If the charter-party is by deed, and executed by the master, and the owners are not parties to it, they can not bring a direct action upon the instru ment ; indeed, the owners can never bring an action upon it unless their names ap pear as the parties executing it. But an Action may in all cases be brought against the owners for a breach of their duties generally as ship-owners relating to mat ters not inconsistent with the terms of the charter-party. The charter-party states the port or ports of destination and the freight to be paid, which may be either a gross sum or so much per ton, or so much for each tub or cask of goods. If the agreement is not to pay a certain sum for the entire ship, or a certain portion of it, but to pay so much per ton, the mer chant generally covenants to load a fixed amount or a full cargo The merchant may load with his own goods or those of others, or he may underlet the ship alto gether. The master or owner usually co venants " that the ship shall be tight and staunch, furnished with all necessaries for the intended voyage, ready by a day appointed to receive the cargo, and wait a certain number of days to take it on board. That after lading she shall sail with first fair wind and opportunity to the destined port (the dangers of the sea excepted), and there deliver the goods to the mer chant or his assigns in the same condition they were received on board ; and further, that during the course of the voyage the ship shall be kept tight and staunch, and furnished with sufficient men and other necessaries to the best of the owner's en deavours." The merchant usually cove nants to load and unload the ship within a specified time.
The owner of the ship has always a lien on the goods in the ship, when the freight is to be paid before or on the de livery at their place of destination of the goods, or even, as Lord Tenterden him self decided (2 Barn. and Ald., 603),
where there is "nothing to show that the delivery of the goods was to precede the payment of that hire." All difficulties may be avoided by inserting a clause in the charter-party which shall state whether it is meant that the owner should have a lien upon the lading for his freight and expenses. The owner does not lose his right of lien by deposit ing the lading iu a public warehouse, provided be gives notice that it is to be detained until his claim for freight is satisfied.
As to DEMURRAGE, see that article. When a ship or a principal part of it is not let out by charter-party, the owners contract with several merchants re spectively for the conveyance of their goods. A ship so employed is called a general ship. The terms of the contract appear from the instrument called a bill of lading. [BILL OF LADING.] The master has authority over the passengers as well as over the crew. A passenger may quit the ship, but while be remains on board, he is bound in case of necessity to do work that is required for the service of the ship and to fight in her defence. If be thwart the master in the exercise of his authority, or other wise misconduct himself, he may be put under restraint or imprisoned. If a pas senger feels himself aggrieved by the manner in which he has been treated, he may bring an action against the master, and it will be for the jury, under the direction of the judge, to say whether he has any ground for complaint. In ad dition to this general right of action, several statutes have been passed to regulate the conveyance of passengers. The 12 & 13 Viet. c. 33, relates to ships carrying passengers from places in the United Kingdom to places out of Europe, and not within the Straits of Gibraltar It regulates the proportion of passengers carried to the tonnage of the ship, pro vides security for the sea-worthiness, cleanliness, &c., and proper storing of the ship, for the presence of a surgeon and medicines, for the delivery of a list of passengers to the collector of customs at the port of departure, and attaches ' penalties to a violation of the regulations which it contains. Ships in the service of the crown, or the post-master-general, or the East India Company, or bound to the Newfoundland fisheries or the coast of Labrador, are excepted from the opera tion of the act. As to the statutes con cerning passengers who emigrate, see