The whole subject is now covered in Eng land by the Merchants Shipping Act of 1894, which provides for limiting the liability of the shipowners in the case of loss of life or personal injury to an aggregate amount not exceeding £15 for each ton of the ship's ton nage, and in respect to loss or damage to vessels, goods, merchandise or other things, to an aggregate amount not exceeding £8 for each ton of the ship's tonnage. See Mac lachlan, Merchant Shipping (5th Ed.) p. 129.
U. S. R. S. § 4282 (Act March 3, 1851), pro vides that the liability of the owner of any vessel for embezzlement, loss or destruction, etc., of any person or any property, etc., on board a vessel, or for any loss or damage by collision or for any act, matter or thing, loss, damage or forfeiture, done, occasioned or incurred "without the privity or knowl edge of such owner or owners, shall in no case exceed the amount of value of the inter est of such owner in such vessel or her freight then pending." Section 4284 provides for apportionment of losses between the own ers. The act of February 18, 1875, excepted from section 4282 the owner of any canal boat, barge or lighter or vessel of any de scription used in rivers or inland navigation. The act of June 26, 1884, provided that the individual liability of the shipowner shall be limited to the proportion of the debts and liabilities that his individual share of the vessel bears to the whole; "and the aggregate liabilities of all the owners of the vessel on account of the same shall not exceed the„value of such vessel and freight pending," provided that this provision shall not prevent any claimant from joining all the owners in one action, and shall not apply to wages.
The act of June 19, 1886, extended the provisions of the act of 1884 to all sea-going vessels and all vessels used on lakes or rivers and all inland navigation, including canal boats, barges and lighters which had been exempted by the above act of 1875.
The act of 1884 extended the provisions of the act of 1851 (which applied only to cases ex delicto) to liability against con tractual obligations incurred on account of the ownership in the vessel; Hughes, Adm. 308. See The Annie Faxon, 75 Fed. 312, 21 C. C. A. 366; Gokey v. Fort, 44 Fed. 364: These acts were held constitutional; Lord v. S. S. Co., 102 U. S. 541, 26 L. Ed. 224; Craig v. Ins. Co., 141 U. S. 638, 12 Sup. Ct. 97, 35 L. Ed. 886.
Proceedings under U. S. R. S. § 4283 et
seq., are exclusive of any separate suit against an owner on account of the ship. Every per son may assert his claim in those proceed ings ; The San Pedro, 223 U. S. 365, 32 Sup. Ct. 275, 56 L. Ed. 473, Ann. Cas. 1913D, 1221, where it was left undecided whether a highly meritorious salvage service is entitled to pref erence.
The benefits of the acts may be claimed by any part owner who had no "privity or knowledge" of the fault which gave rise to the liability; The S. A. McCaulley, 99 Fed.
302. This means the personal privity or knowledge of the owners, and not the mere privity or knowledge of their agents, except in the case of a corporation, where the privi ty or knowledge of the president or other high officer above the grade of an employee is the privity or knowledge of the corporation, and would defeat the right of the corporation to the exemption ; In re Meyer, 74 Fed. 881; Kimball S. S. Co. v. Weisshaar, 194 U. S. 638, 24 Sup. Ct. 859, 48 L. Ed. 1162 ; Lord v. S. S. Co., 102 U. S. 541, 26 L. Ed. 224; The Colima, 82 Fed. 665; In re Jeremiah Smith fe Sons, 193 Fed. 395, 113 C. C. A. 391.
The end of the voyage is the time as of which the exemption can be claimed, the voy age being taken as the unit. If the voyage is broken up by a disaster, as, for example, when the vessel is totally lost, that is taken as the time ; The City of Norwich, 118 U. S. 468, 6 Sup. Ct. 1150, 30 L. Ed. 134. The part owners are liable each to the extent of their proportionate interest in the vessel, except that a part owner personally negligent, can not claim the exemption at all ; Whitcomb v. Emerson, 50 Fed. 128. The value of the vessel and pending freight is taken just aft er the accident, or end of the voyage, if the voyage is not broken up by the accident ; The Scotland, 105 U. S. 24, 26 L. Ed. 1001.
The owner must also surrender damages recovered from another vessel ; O'Brien v. Miller, 168 U. S. 287, 18 Sup. Ct. 140, 42 L. Ed. 469 ; as well as pending freight ; The Main v. Williams, 152 U. S. 122, 14 Sup. Ct. 486, 38 L. Ed. 381; but salvage and insur ance need not be surrendered ; The City of Norwich, 118 U. S. 468, 6 Sup. Ct. 1150, 30 L. Ed. 134 ; In re Meyer, 74 Fed. 881. Un der the express provisions of the statute, all claims filed, whether they have an admiralty lien attached or are mere personal claims against the owner, are paid pro rata; The Catskill, 95 Fed. 700.