THE LAW RELATING TO SHIPMASTERS AND SEAMEN THEIR APPOINTMENT, DUTIES, POWERS, RIGHTS, AND LIABILITIES. BY JOSEPH KAY, Esq., M.A., Q.C., OF TRIN. COLL., CAMBRIDGE, AND OF THE NORTHERN CIRCUIT; SOLICITOR-GENERAL OF THE COUNTY SECOND EDITION. BY THE HON. JOHN WILLIAM MANSFIELD, M.A., OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; AUTHOR OF A PAMPHLet on MARITIME LIEn," and " AND GEORGE WILLIAM DUNCAN, Esq., B.A., LATE JUNIOR STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD; BOTH OF THE INNER TEMPLE AND THE NORTHERN CIRCUIT; BARRISTERS-AT-LAW. C.VA. LONDON: STEVENS AND HAYNES, Law Publishers, BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR. AUG 01 1991 LAW LIBRARY (v) PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE Scope and object of the following work is described by the author in the original preface, which is printed below. In order that it may be better adapted for use by Shipmasters and others, to whom compactness is important, the present edition has been confined within the dimensions of a single volume, a proportionate reduction being made in the price. The carrying out of this object has involved much compression and rearrangement, producing a considerable change of form; while the lapse of some nineteen years since the publication of the first edition has involved an equally considerable change of substance. Indeed many passages have been almost entirely re-written-for example, those relating to demurrage, general average, the master's lien on the cargo and his remedies for wages and disbursements, and the chapters on collisions and salvage; while much new statutory matter has been necessarily inserted. (a) On the other hand, the editors have made it their object to utilise to the full the wide research which characterised the work of the late Mr. Kay; and they confi (a) The Sea-fishing Service is now the subject of a special series of statutes. It has not been thought necessary or desirable to do more than briefly refer to their more important provisions, in dealing with the corresponding clauses of the general Acts. dently hope that in studying brevity they have not unnecessarily sacrificed any of the fruits of his industry. The number and complexity of the statutes and orders relating to the subject were referred to in the preface to the first edition. The inconvenience then complained of has been steadily growing ever since, until the codification advocated by the author would seem to be a necessity; and it has at length, after being talked of for many years, been embodied in a Bill presented to the House of Commons in August, 1893. This circumstance, occurring after nearly three-fourths of the text had been printed off, rendered it necessary to suspend further progress until a recent date, when it became known that the measure would be dropped; and the publication of the present volume, which, it was hoped, would have been completed by the beginning of the legal year, has been consequently delayed until the present time. The future fate of the Bill and the shape in which it may ultimately receive the sanction of Parliament are alike uncertain; but should it become law within the next twelve months it is in contemplation to make it the subject of a supplementary volume. Some slight further delay has been occasioned by the recent Employers' Liability Bill; the passage relating to that subject having been kept in type in the expectation that the Bill would pass. Several new titles have been added to the Index, which, it is hoped, will increase its utility, and great care has been taken to render the parallel references in the Table of Cases as complete as possible. The delay in publication above noticed renders it necessary to direct especial attention to the addenda, which are inevitably more numerous than would otherwise have been the case. |