DEMURRAGE. The delay of a vessel by the freighter beyond the time allowed for loading, unloading, or sailing.
Payment for such delay.
The amount due by the freighter or char terer to the owner of the vessel for such de lay. 5 E. & B. 755 ; Abb. Adm. Dec. 548; Gronn v., Woodruff, 19 Fed. 144.
Demurrage may become due either by the ship's detention for the purpose of loading or unloading the cargo, either before or dur ing or after the voyage, or in waiting for convoy ; 3 Kent 159 ; Van Etten v. Newton, 134 N. Y. 143, 31 N. E. 334, 30 Am. St. Rep. 630 ; Donaldson v. McDowell, 1 Holmes 290, Fed. Cas. No. 3,985 ; Creighton v. Dilks, 49 Fed. 107; Porter, Bills of L. 356.
Where neither the charter nor the bill of lading contained any provisions as to de murrage, and the master made no formal protest against the delay, but signed the bill of lading without objection and did not bring suit until long after, demurrage could not be recovered ; MeKeen v. Morse, 49 Fed. 253, 1 C. C. A. 237 ; Gage v. Morse, 12 Allen (Mass.) 410, 90 Am. Dec. 155; and it is said the English authorities are uniformly against such a liability ; id. 5 El. & B. 755, 589; 10 C. B. N. S. 802. the courts have not generally followed the English rule. It is held that maritime ,demurrage may be col lected, even though not provided for in the contract, and that a lien on the cargo for demurrage may be enforced ; Donaldson v. McDowell, Fed. Cas. No. 3,985 ; The Hyperi on's Cargo, id. 6,987 ; 275 Tons of Mineral Phosphates, 9 Fed. 209; Hawgood v. 1,310,
Tons of Coal, 21 Fed. 681; and in England it is held a lien for demurrage may be giv en by contract; L. R. 8 Exch. 101; L. R. 15 Q. B. Div. Under the terms of a charter where de murrage was to be paid for each working day beyond the days allowed for loading, the time lost by reason of storms before the be ginning of the lay days, or after their ex piration, could not be deducted in computing the demurrage ; Wold v. Keyser, 52 Fed. 169, 2 C. C. A. 656.
The term "working days" in maritime af fairs means calendar days, on which the law permits work to be done, and excludes Sun days and legal holidays, but not stormy days; Sorensen v. Keyser, 52 Fed. 163, 2 C. C. A. 650. But see Baldwin v. Timber Co., 142 N. Y. 279, 36 N. E. 1060, where it was held that Sundays are properly included in computing demurrage, when demurrage has begun to run. Where there are no agreed demurrage days for loading the case is one of implied contract to load with reasonable diligence; Randall v. Sprague, 74 Fed. 247, 21 C. C. A. 334.
Where a charter party excepted delays by strikes, it was held to apply to the cbarter er's own workmen ; Wood v. Keyser, 84 Fed. 688 ; but not to a strike of coal operators which overtaxed the capacity of the harbor and caused delay ; W. K. Niver Coal Co. v.
S. S. Co., 142 Fed. 402, 73 C. C. A. 502, 5 L