I. OF THE OWNERS OF MERCHANT SHIPS;
II. OF THE PERSONS EMPLOYED IN THE
NAVIGATION THEREOF;

III. OF THE CARRIAGE OF GOODS THEREIN ;
IV. OF THE WAGES OF MERCHANT SEAMEN.

BY CHARLES ABBOTT,

OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER AT LAW.

The Second American, from the Third London Edition,
WITH ANNOTATIONS

By JOSEPH STORY, Esq.

COUNSELLOR AT LAW.

NEWBURYPORT :

PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LITTLE & CO.

CHARLES NORRIS & Co. Printers.

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the fifth Day of July, in

the thirty-fifth Year of the Independence of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, EDWARD LITTLE of the said District, has deposited in this Office the Title of a Book, the Right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the Words following, to wit:

A Treatise of the Law relative to Merchant Ships and Seamen: in four parts; I Of the owners of Merchant Ships; II. Of the persons employed in the Navigation thereof; III. Of the carriage of Goods therein; IV. Of the Wages of Merchant Seamen. By CHARLES ABBOTT, of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. The second American, from the third London Edition, with Annotations by JOSEPH STORY, Esq. Counsellor at Law.

In Conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, intitled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned ;" and also to an Act.intitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, intitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical, and other Prints."

PREFACE.

CONSIDERING the great importance of

every branch of law relating to Maritime Commerce, it is a matter of surprise that no treatise on the subjects discussed in the following sheets should have been written by any member of the profession of the law for a very long period of years. It is now more than a century since the first publication of the work of Molloy, the only English Lawyer, who has written on these matters. During that period the law of the country has grown up with its commerce; many interesting points have been argued by able and eloquent Advocates, and decided by learned and enlightened Judges; and some very important regulations have been introduced by the Legislature: but very little of useful addition has been made. to the collection of Molloy, either by the subsequent editors of his treatise, or by the other authors, who have written on the same topics. Yet the absence of a general and established code of Maritime Law, which almost every other European nation possesses, seems to render a collection of the principal points of that law peculiarly necessary both for English merchants and English lawyers. On the subject of Insurance, this has been already effected. In the present treatise an attempt is made to supply the defect in some other branches. And in order to render the work

as generally useful as the nature of it will allow, great care has been taken to avoid the use of technical phrases, wherever the form and manner of legal proceedings are not the principal points of consideration. The reader, who is of the profession of the law, may, I fear, sometimes be disgusted at this; and at other times censure the awkward expressions substituted for the language, to which his ear is familiar. The only excuse, that can be offered for the latter fault, is the difficulty of expressing ideas, to which the mind is habituated, in any other words, than those to which we are accustomed a difficulty, of which the conversation of all persons, who are engaged in any art or science, furnishes daily experience.

The treatise now offered to the public is compiled not only from the text writers of our own nation, and the reporters of the decisions of our own Courts, but also from the books of the Civil Law, and from such of the maritime laws of foreign nations, and the works of foreign writers, as I have been able to obtain a knowledge of. A few decisions of the House of Lords are quoted. from the printed statements delivered by the contending parties and the Journals of the House. Some judgments pronounced by English Judges are also introduced, which have not hitherto been made public; for the most valuable part of these I am indebted to Mr. Justice Lawrence, and particularly for the cases of Parish and Crawford, Appleby and Pollock, and Day and Searle; the case of Mackrell against Simond and Hankey was communicated to me by the late Mr. Justice Buller, who, when at the bar, argued it on behalf of the Defendants; the rest are cited from notes taken by myself or my professional friends. Indeed I am indebted to my friends not only for

assistance of this kind, but also for the loan of scarce books, the correction of some errors, and the suggestion of many valuable hints for the improvement of the work. Of the assistance thus afforded me I shall ever entertain the most grateful remembrance, and my reader will experience the advantage in many parts of this book.

The Ordinances most frequently quoted are those of Oleron and Wisbuy, the two Ordinances of the Hanse-Towns, and the Ordonnance de la Marine du mois d'Aoust 1681. The Ordinances of Oleron and Wisbuy and the first Hanseatic Ordinance are in the hands of every lawyer: and whenever the Hanseatic Ordinance is mentioned generally, the reader will understand this to be spoken of. The Hanseatic Ordinance of the year 1614 was published with a Latin translation and commentary by Kuricke in a small quarto at Hamburgh in the year 1677. This book is very scarce in this country: the Ordinance itself is arranged and divided, and contains some additional regulations; which however are little more than a detail of the principles comprized in the first Ordinance. Reference is also occasionally made to such other foreign Ordinances as are to be found in the second volume of Magen's Essay on Insurances. I have often lamented my inability to consult the earliest maritime code of modern Europe, the Consolato del Mare. There is an old French translation of this body of laws, but I could never meet with it, and I am ignorant of the Spanish and Italian languages. Whenever therefore I have referred to this code, the reference is taken from the work of some other author: and it is made for the purpose of giving an apportunity of consulting the original to those, whose superior attainments enable them to do so.