RESPONDENTIA. In Maritime Law. A loan of money, on maritime interest, on goods laden on board of a ship, upon the condition that if the goods be wholly lost in the conrse of the voyage, by any of the perils enumerated in the contract, the lender shall lose his money ; if not, that the borrower shall pay him the sum borrowed, with the interest agreed upon.
The contract is called reepondentia because the money is lent mainly, or most frequently, on the personal responsibility of the borrower. It differs principally from hottomry, which see, in the fol lowing circumstances bottotury is a loan on the ship; respondentia is a loan upon the goods. The money is to be repaid to the lender, with maritime interest, upon the arrival of the ship in the one case, and of the goods in the other. In most other respects the contracts are nearly the same, and are governed by the same principles. In the former, the ship and tackle, being hypothecated, are liable, at welt as the borrower; in the latter, the lender has, in general, it is said, only the per sonal security of the borrower. Marsh. Ins. b. 2, c. 1, p. 734.
2. If any part of the goods arrive safely at the end of the voyage, the lender is entitled to have the proceeds applied to the payment of his debt. If the loan is made by the master, and not by the owners of the goods, tbe neces sity for the loan and for the hypothecation of the cargo must be clearly shown, or the owners of the goods, and, consequently, the goods themselves, will not be bound. The ship and freight are always to be first resorted to to raise money for the necessity of the ship or the prosecution of the voyae ; and it seems that a bond upon the cargo is considered by implication of law a bond upon the ship and freight also, and that unless the ship be liable in law the cargo cannot he held liable.
The Constancia, 4 Motes of Cases, 285, 512, 518, 677 ; 10 Jur. 845 ; 2 W. Rob. Adm. 83— 85 ; 14 Jur. 96. And see 3 Mas. C. C. 255.
3. If the contract clearly contemplates that the goods on which the loan is made -are to be sold or exchanged, free from any lien, in the course of the voyage, the lender will have no lion on them, but must rely wholly on the personal responsibility of the borrower. It has been frequently said by elementary writers, and without qualifies tion, that the lender has no lien, 2 Black stone, Comm. 458 ; 3 Kent, Comm. 354 ; but the form of bond generally in use in this country expressly hypothecates the goods, and thus, even when there is no express hypothecation, if the goods are still on board at the end of the voyage it is not doubtful that a court of admiralty will direct the ar rest of the goods and enforce against them the maritime lien or privilege conferred by the respondentia contract. There is, per haps, no common-law lien, but this maritime lien only ; but the latter will be enforced `iy the proper admiralty process. See the au charities cited in note to 1 Abbott, Shipp. 154; 4 Wash. C. C. 662 ; form of respondentia bon& in Marvin on Wreck & Salvage, Ap pendix, 332-336 ; Conkling. Admiralty, 263 :265 ; 1 Parsons, Mar. Law 437, and n.5. And see, generally, Abbott, Shipping ; Parsons, Mar.t. Law ; Phillips, Ins.