of such Parts or Shares then held by each Owner, -
and the same shall be so registered accordingly:
PROVIDED always, that if it shall at any Time happen
that the Property of any Owner or Owners in any Ship or
Vessel cannot be reduced, by Division, into any Number
of integral Sixty-fourth Parts or Shares, it shall and
may be lawful for the Owner or Owners of such frac-
tional Parts as shall be over and above such Number of
integral Sixty-fourth Parts or Shares into which such
Property in any Ship or Vessel can be reduced by Divi-
sion, to transfer the same one to another, or jointly, to
any new Owner, by -Memorandum upon their respec-
tive Bills of Sale, or by fresh Bill of Sale, without
such Transfer being liable to any Stamp Duty: --
PROVIDED also, that the Right of such Owner or Owners
to such fractional Parts shall not be affected by reason of
the same not having been registered :
also, that it shall be lawful for any Number of such
Owners, named and described in such Registry, being
Partners in any House or Copartnership actually carry-
ing on Trade in any Part of His Majesty's Dominions
to hold any Ship or Vessel, or any Share or Shares of any
Ship or Vessel, in the Name of such House or Co-
without dis-
partnership, as joint Owners thereof,
tinguishing the proportionate Interest of each of such
Owners, and that such Ship or Vessel, or the Share or
Shares thereof so held in Copartnership, shall be
deemed and taken to be- Partnership Property to all Intents
and Purposes, and shall be governed by the same Rules,
both in Law and Equity, as relate to and govern all other
Partnership Property in any other Goods, Chattels,
and Effects whatsoever.

--

-

PROVIDED

Smaller Por

tions may be conveyed without Stamp.

Partners may hold Ships or

Shares without
distinguishing
proportionate

Interest of each
Owner.

Only Thirtytwo Persons to

be Owners of any Ship at one

Time.

XXXIII. AND be it further enacted, That no greater Number than Thirty-two Persons shall be entitled to be legal Owners at one and the same Time of any Ship or Vessel, as Tenants in Common (1), or to be regis tered as such : PROVIDED always, that nothing Not to affect the herein contained shall affect the equitable Title of Minors, equitable Title Heirs, Legatees, Creditors, or others, exceeding that of Heirs, &c.

(1) Any Number of Partners holding as such (see § 32.) would be as one Tenant in Common; so also would any Number of Joint Tenants, holding the same Shares together, be as one Tenant in Common. See Statement of Shares on Back of Certificate of Registry, $ 2.

Shares.

Joint Stock
Companies.

Trustees may apply to have Registry made.

Shares to be registered on Registry de

novo under this Act.

-

Number, duly represented by or holding from any of the Persons within the said Number, registered as legal Owners of any Share or Shares of such Ship or Vessel: PROVIDED also, that if it shall be proved to the Satisfaction of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs, that any Number of Persons have associated themselves as a Joint Stock Company, for the Purpose of owning any Ship or Vessel, or any Number of Ships or Vessels, as the joint Property of such Company, — and that such Company have duly elected or appointed any Number, not less than Three of the Members of the same, to be Trustees of the Property in such Ship or Vessel, or Ships or Vessels so owned by such Company, - it shall be lawful for such Trustees, or any Three of them, with the Permission of such Commissioners, to take the Oath (1) required by this Act, before Registry be made, except that instead of stating therein the Names and Descriptions of the other Owners, they shall state the Name and Description of the Company (2) to which such Ship or Vessel, or Ships or Vessels, shall in such Manner belong.

XXXIV. AND be it further enacted, That whenever any Ship or Vessel which had been registered before the said Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, and shall not have been registered de novo since that Day, and before the Commencement of this Act shall be registered de novo, the Number of such Shares held by each Owner shall be registered as far as the same be practicable, and to that Intent the Owner or Owners who shall take and subscribe the Oath required by this Act before Registry be made, shall produce the Bills of Sale or other Titles of themselves and of the other Owners, in order that the Number of such Shares held by each of them may be ascertained and registered accordingly; AND if the Registry of such Ship or Vessel then in force shall be the First Registry (3), and the Shares of any of the Owners shall

(1) See § 14.

(2) This does not relieve the Trustees from the Part of the Oath which goes to the Exclusion of Foreigners, &c.; and therefore in order that the Trustees may be qualified to take the Oath, it may be advisable for such Companies by their Rules to incapacitate Foreigners and Persons who have taken the Oath of Allegiance to a Foreign State, from holding any Share in their Stocks.

(3) See Oath, § 14.; and First Purchaser according to Builder's Certificate, § 25.

same as

Shares.

remain the same as they were at the Time of such Registry, and the Owner or Owners, or any One of them, who shall attend to take and subscribe the Oath required by this Act before Registry be made, shall be the was or were the Owner or Owners, or One of them, who took and subscribed such Oath before such First Registry was made, such original Owner or Owners - instead of producing the Bills of Sale, shall declare upon Oath, to the best of his or their Knowledge and Belief, the Number of such Shares held by him or them, or by any other original Owner or Owners, whose proportionate Property in such Ship or Vessel shall have remained unchanged: PROVIDED always, that if at the Time of such Registry de novo such Owner or Owners shall make Oath that he and they, and each of them, are be ascertained, Registry for produce the Bill or Bills of Sale, or to give any certain that Time may Account or Proof of the Share or Shares of the other be made without previous Owners, or some or any one of them, it shall be lawful for the Collector and Comptroller to register such Ship or Vessel without requiring the Share or Shares of such Owner or Owners to be declared and specified. (1)

unable to

If Shares of
Owners cannot

stating them.

Shares must be

registered within

a certain Time;

XXXV. PROVIDED also, and be it further enacted, That from and after the Commencement of this Act (2),—or from and after the First Arrival and Entry of any Ship or Vessel, after such Commencement, at the Port to which she belongs, or at any other Port which shall be in the same Part of the United Kingdom, or in the same Colony, Plantation, Island, or Territory as the said Port shall be in, no Certificate of Registry shall be in force, except such as shall be granted under the Authority of this Act,— or which shall have been granted under the Authority of an Act passed in the Fourth Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled An Act for the registering of 4 G. 4. e. 41. Vessels, AND in which the Share or Shares hereinbefore described held by each Owner shall be set forth, unless it shall be certified thereon by the Collector and unless CommisComptroller of the Port to which such Ship or Vessel sioners give belong, that farther — Time (3) has been granted by the

further Time.

(1) See § 35. By which it is made necessary that the granting of further Time to specify the Shares must be indorsed on the Certificate of Registry. (2) 5th Jan. 1826. See § 1.; also $§ 4.

(3) The Time allowed by the Commissioners must be stated, after which the Certificate of Registry will not be in force.

Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs for ascertaining and registering the Number or Numbers of such Shares as cannot then be ascertained.

XXXVI. AND be it further enacted, That upon the First Registry in compliance with this Act, of any Ship or Vessel which had been before registered, no Stamp Duty (1) shall be charged upon the Bond therein required to be given; and if the Certificate of such former Registry then delivered up to be cancelled shall have a Mediterranean Pass attached thereto, no Stamp Duty shall be charged on account of the new Mediterranean Pass which shall be obtained in lieu of the one so delivered up and cancelled.

TRANSFERS.

XXXVII. AND be it further enacted, That no Bill of Sale (2) or other Instrument in Writing, shall be valid and effectual to pass the Property in any Ship or Vessel, or in any Share thereof, or for any other Purpose (3),— until such Bill of Sale or other Instrument in Writing shall have been produced to the Collector and Comptroller of the Port at which such Ship or Vessel is registered, or to the Collector and Comptroller of any other Port at which she is about to be registered de novo, as the Case may be, NOR until such Collector and Comptroller respectively shall have entered in the Book of Registry or in the Book of intended Registry of such Ship or Vessel, as the Case may be (4), (and which they are respectively hereby required to do upon the Production of the Bill of Sale or other Instrument for that Purpose) the Name, Residence, and Description of the Vendor or Mortgagor (5), or of each Vendor or Mortgagor, if more

(1) See Cap. 111. § 18. See also Act, 6 Geo. 4. Cap. 41. § 2.

(2) Required in every Transfer after Registry, $31.

(3) See Mortgage and Security for Debts, § 45. 46.

(4) The Indorsement of the Transfer is Evidence at the buying Port that the Bill of Sale has been entered in the Book of Registry at the selling Port. If the Indorsement have not been made, the Bill of Sale must be produced at the new Port, and the Entry of it made in the Book of Registry there. It will be seen that there is no Time limited for the Production of the Bill of Sale; but the Title of the Buyer is not made good against other Claimants, until it has been produced, and recognized either by Indorsement or by Registry de novo, § 38. 39. 41. and 42.

(5) See Transfer by way of Mortgage, § 45. and 46.

the

AND

than One, the Number of Shares transferred,
Name, Residence, and Description of the Purchaser
or Mortgagee, or of each Purchaser or Mortgagee, if more
than One, and the Date of the Bill of Sale or other
Instrument, and of the Production of it;
further, if such Ship or Vessel is not about to be registered
de novo, the Collector and Comptroller of the Port where
such Ship is registered shall and they are hereby required
to indorse the aforesaid Particulars of such Bill of Sale
or other Instrument on the Certificate of Registry of the
said Ship or Vessel, when the same shall be produced
to them for that Purpose (1), — in Manner and to the Effect
following; videlicet,

dorsement.

• Custom House [Port and Date; Name, Residence, and Form of InDescription of Vendor or Mortgagor (2)] has transferred by [Bill of Sale or other Instrument] dated [Date; Number of Shares] to [Name, Residence, and Description of Purchaser or Mortgagee.]

A. B. Collector.
C.D. Comptroller.'

And forthwith to give Notice thereof to the Commissioners Notice to Comof Customs; and in case the Collector and Comptroller missioners. shall be desired so to do, and the Bill of Sale or other Instrument shall be produced to them for that Purpose, then the said Collector and Comptroller are hereby required to certify, by Indorsement upon the said Bill of Sale or other Instrument, that the Particulars before mentioned have been so entered in the Book of Registry, and indorsed upon the Certificate of Registry as aforesaid.

XXXVIII. AND be it further enacted, That when and so soon as the Particulars of any Bill of Sale or other Instrument by which any Ship or Vessel, or any Share or Shares thereof, shall be transferred, shall have been so entered in the Book of Registry as aforesaid, the said Bill of Sale or other Instrument shall be valid and effectual to -pass the Property thereby intended to be transferred, as against all and every Person and Persons whatsoever, and to all Intents and Purposes, except as against such subsequent Purchasers and Mortgagees who shall first

(1) It will be seen that in every Case in which the Officers have any Part to perform, it can only be at the Instance of the Party.

(2) See additional Words, § 45.