A British ship is supposed in law to be divided into sixty-four shares. No one can be registered as owner of a fraction of a share ; and no more than thirty-two persons can be separately registered as owners of the ship at one time. Yet a corporate body, no matter how many persons are members of it, is registered as one person : and any five individuals may be registered jointly for the same share or shares, so as to count for one person on the register and no more. If six indi viduals therefore were to purchase one share, no more than five could appear on the register ; the sixth would be a beneficial owner only, and for the purposes of transfer must apply to the five in whom the title is vested. Upon registration of a ship being completed, a certifi cate of registry is given, indorsed with the particulars on the register ; but instead of being, as it was before, the document of title to the ship, it is now no more than is implied in the name, a certificate that the vessel is British-owned and registered, and as such is to remain in the keeping of the master for the purposes of the navigation of the vessel The document of title is now the register; all who appear on that book as owners continue to retain the title so declared to be in them as long as they are suffered to remain there, with full power to convey title to any other, and to give valid and effectual receipts for the price. It is not therefore the execution of the authorised bill of sale that secures the property to a purchaser; that bill of sale must be registered, and the burden of that duty is imposed on the most willing shoulders connected with the transaction, namely, those of the buyer himself.
Mortgages of the ship, or any shares of it, are also allowed to be registered, but not trusts or any notice of them. Now as this important book is entirely local, and the necessities of trade might often require the sale or mortgage of the vessel to be effected in a foreign country, or at a distant port in her majesty's dominions, some contrivance was necessary for placing the contents of the register in all their integrity and legal effect before the eyes of the intending purchaser or lender at a distance. This is effected by means of a certificate of sale, or a certificate of mortgage, which is issued upon application by the registrar, containing an exact copy of the details on the register as they appear at the moment of issue. The purchaser or lender is thereby informed of the exact state of the title which is offered, and how far the property is already burdened, if burdened at all. By indorsement on this certificate his title is secured to him, as effectually, and with the same consequences, as if it had been placed on the register at the time when the certificate was granted ; and the mortgage takes rank before all other mortgages effected after the issue of the certificate, and not effected by means of it.
Title by Capture.—Title by capture is an acquisition that cannot be made except during war ; for capture is the exercise of a belligerent right. But even when exercised during the existence of a war, no more than an inchoate right of property in the captured ship is vested until the capture is succeeded by condemnation in accordance with the principles of the law of nations by a court of competent jurisdiction, sitting by authority of the sovereign of the captors, either in the country to which they belong or in that of an ally in the war. The
vessel at the time of condemnation must be lying in a port of that sovereign, or of such ally ; for condemnation of her whilst lying in the port of a neutral country, except under very peculiar cireumetances, is, according to the English law, a nullity ; but the law of the United States appears to differ in that respect, and to have the support of continental practice during the wars at least that followed the first French revolution.
Forfeiture of Ship .Property.—Any disqualified person improperly obtaining and continuing to hold shares in a British registered ship, forfeits his shares in consequence ; and any ship owned wholly or in part by a person who is disqualified under the law of this country, which assumes the British flag, except for the mere purpose of escaping capture by an enemy, is forfeited to the crown. .If any master, for the purposes of his use a British certificate of registry which has not been legally granted in respect of that vessel, he is himself ?silty of a misdemeanor, and the ship is thereby forfeited. If anything is done or permitted by the master or owner of a British ship with intent to conceal her British character from any person entitled by British paw to inquire into the same—or with intent to assume a foreign cha racter—or with Intent to deceive any person entitled to inquire into her national character whilst making such Inquiry, and in respect thereof, the ship is thereby forfeited. These forfeitures are authorised by the 3Ierchant Shipping Act of l854. By the Passengers Act of 1855 (18 & 19 Viet. c. 119) It is enacted that any vessel clearing out to sea without the requisite bond being first executed by the master, or without the requisite certificate of clearance being first obtained, is forfeited to the crown in consequence.
Legal Bights of l'art-owncrs.—If the ownership of a vessel acquired originally in one or other of these ways is not vested in a single person, the several owners, considered as among themselves and not in relation to the register, may hold the vessel In partnership. Thin, however, is very seldom the case. Usually they are part-owners merely, and as such have no authority by law, any one of them, to bind the rest by his contracts on account of the ship. But if they agree to undertake a trading adventure with the vessel, although they still remain as before, mere part-owners in respect of the hull of the ship, they are partners in the adventure. They are bound to contribute in that case to the expense of the outfit, as being in the nature of capital for the enter prise; and they are entitled to an account at the end of the voyage when the adventure is finished.