advertised in any other part of the United Kingdom enter the title to the No. XIII. copy of every such book and the name or names and place of abode of c. 156. the publisher or publishers thereof in the register book of the Company of 54 Geo. III. Stationers in London, in such manner as hath been usual with respect to books the title whereof hath heretofore been entered in such register book, and deliver one copy on the best paper as aforesaid for the use of the Copy for BriBritish Museum; which register book shall at all times be kept at the tish Musenm. hall of the said Company; for every of which several entries the sum of two shillings shall be paid and no more; which said register book may at Inspection of all seasonable and convenient times be resorted to and inspected by any Register Book. person; for which inspection the sum of one shilling shall be paid to the warehouse-keeper of the said Company of Stationers, and such warehouse- Certificate. keeper shall when and as often as thereto required, give a certificate under his hand of every or any such entry, and for every such certificate the sum of one shilling shall be paid; and in case such entry of the title of Title of Book any such book or books shall not be duly made by the publisher or pub- not entered. lishers of any such book or books within the said calendar month or three months as the case may be, then the publisher or publishers of such book Penalty. magazine review or other periodical publication: Provided always, That Proviso. VI. And be it further enacted, That the said warehouse-keeper of the WarehouseCompany of Stationers shall from time to time and at all times, without keeper of Sta. any greater interval than three months, transmit to the librarian or other tioners' Hall to person authorised on behalf of the libraries before mentioned correct lists transmit to Liof all books entered in the books of the said Company and not contained brarians Lists of in former lists; and that on being required so to do by the said librarians Books entered; and call on or other authorised person or either of them, he shall call on the pubPublisher for lisher or publishers of such books for as many of the said copies as may Copies. have been demanded of them. VII. Provided always and be it further enacted, That if any publisher Publishers to shall be desirous of delivering the copy of such book or volume as afore- deliver Books said as shall be demanded on behalf of any of the said libraries at such at Library. library, it shall and may be lawful for him to deliver the same at such library to the librarian or other person authorised to receive the same (who is hereby required to receive and to give a receipt in writing for the What deemed same); and such delivery shall to all intents and purposes of this Act be Delivery. as equivalent to a delivery to the said warehouse-keeper. of Extension of Copyright. VIII. And whereas it is reasonable that authors of books already pub- Authors of lished and who are now living should also have the benefit of the exten- Books publishsion of copyright; Be it further enacted, That if the author of any ed, now living, book or books which shall not have been published fourteen years at the to have Benefit time of passing this Act shall be living at the said time, and if such author shall afterwards die before the expiration of the said fourteen years, then the personal representative of the said author and the assignees or assigns of such personal representative shall have the sole right of printing and publishing the said book or books for the further term of fourteen years after the expiration of the first fourteen years: Provided that no- Previso. thing in this Act contained shall affect the right of the assignee or assigus of such author to sell any copies of the said book or books which shall have been printed by such assignee or assigns within the first fourteen years or the terms of any contract between such author and such assignee or assigns. VOL. II. E No. XIII. 54 Geo. III. c. 156. Authors living at End of 28 Years sole Right of Publication for Life. ⚫ Limitation of Actions, IX. And be it also further enacted, That if the author of any book or books which have been already published shall be living at the end of twenty-eight years after the first publication of the said book or books, he or she shall for the remainder of his or her life have the sole right of printing and publishing the same: Provided that this shall not affect the right of the assignee or assigns of such author to sell any copies of the said book or books which shall have been printed by such assignee or assigns within the said twenty-eight years or the terms of any contract between such author and such assignee or assigns. X. Provided nevertheless and be it further enacted, That all actions suits bills indictments or informations for any offence that shall be committed against this Act shall be brought sued and commenced within twelve months next after such offence committed, or else the same shall be void and of no effect. PART III. CLASS II. Trade, Navigation, Ship-Owners, Mariners, and Fisheries.* [ No. I. ] 38 Edward III. stat. 1. c. 8.-A Ship shall not be lost for a small Thing therein not customed. 66 38 Edw. III. stat. 1. c. 8. ITEM, Whereas the ships of divers people of the realm be arrested and holden forfeit, because of a little thing put in their ship not "customed, whereof the owners of the same ships be ignorant;"It is 'accorded and assented, That no owner shall lose his ship from the + +Sixteenth, fifteenth day of February next coming forth, for such a small thing put 'within the ship not customed without his knowledge.' (1.) Some of the Acts included in this class relate more particularly to matters of official regulation and to a peculiar branch of trade, than those which fall within the general plan of the work-but are inserted on account of their importance, and the frequency of their becoming the subject of discussion. But it is not proposed to advert to the more minute regulations upon the subject, as affected by modern statutes, with respect to particular places or articles of traffick. A full view of the nature and progress of the system connected with Statute 12 Charles II. commonly called the Navigation Act, down to the year 1792, is contained in Mr. Reeve's History of the Law of Shipping and Navigation. (1.) It is stated in Reeve's History of the Law of Shipping and Navigation, p. 269, that it seems now to be the prevailing opinion, that this statute is not repealed by subsequent Acts, however absolute in their prohibition, and that it ought to have its influence in construing cases of forfeiture; but that Stat. 27 Ed. III. c. 19. (which provides generally that no merchant or other shall lose or forfeit his goods or merchandize for the trespass or forfeiture of his servant, if not done by the command or authority of his master,) is not understood in the same light. He adds, (what is proved by daily practice,) that instances frequently occur where forfeitures arise from the conduct of the clerk, but to allow this as a plea would open a door to all sorts of fraud. P. 12 Car. II. c. 18. [ No. II. ] 12 Charles II. c. 18.—An Act for the Encouraging and Increasing of Shipping and Navigation. FOR the increase of shipping and encouragement of the navigation of this nation, wherein under the good providence and protection of God, the wealth safety and strength of this kingdom is so much No Goods shall be imported concerned;' Be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, and from the by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by Plantations, but the authority thereof, That from and after the first day of December one in English thousand six hundred and sixty and from thenceforward no goods or Ships. commodities whatsoever shall be imported (1.) into or exported out of 5 El. c. 5. (1.) As to what shall be deemed an importation see several opinions in Reeve's S. & N. p. 256. et seq. and the case of the Procurator General v. Barro, Note to 15 Charles II. c. 7. post. In the case of the Eleanor, Edwards' Admiralty Reports, 135. Sir Wm. Scott said, "It is, I presume, an universal rule, that the mere act of coming into port, though without breaking bulk, is prima facie evidence of an importation. At the same time this presumption may be rebutted; but it lies in the party to assign the other cause, and if the cause assigned turns out to be false the first presumption necessarily takes place, and the fraudulent importation must be fastened down upon him. Real and irresistible distress must be, at all times, a sufficient passport for human beings, under any such application of human laws. It must be an urgent distress-it must be something of great necessity-the danger must be such as to cause apprehension in the mind of an honest and c. 18. No. II. any lands islands plantations or territories (2.) to his Majesty belonging or in his possession or which may hereafter belong unto or be in the pos12 Car. II. session of his Majesty his heirs and successors in Asia Africa or America, in any other ship or ships vessel or vessels whatsoever but in such ships or vessels as do truly and without fraud belong only to the people of England or Ireland dominion of Wales or town of Berwick upon Tweed, or are of the built (3.) of and belonging to any the said lands islands plantations or territories as the proprietors and right owners thereof, and whereof the master and three-fourths of the marines (4.) at least are English; under the penalty of the forfeiture and loss of all the goods and commodities which shall be imported into or exported out of any the aforesaid places in any other ship or vessel, as also of the ship or vessel with all its guns furniture tackle ammunition and apparel; (5) one-third part thereof to Penalty. Explained 13 & 14 Car. 2. c. 11. sec. 6. firm man. I do not mean to say, that there must be an actual physical necessity existing at the moment-a moral necessity would justify the act; but there must be, at least, a moral necessity. Again, where the party justifies the act upon the plea of distress, it must not be distress which he has created himself by putting on board an insufficient quantity of provisions for such a voyage, for the distress is only a part of the mechanism of the fraud, and cannot be set up as an excuse for it; and in the next place, the distress must be proved by the claimant in a clear and satisfactory manner."-See other parts in this case in note to Stat. 26 Geo. III. c. 60. Sec. 8. post. See also, as to Importation, 1 Edwards' Appendix, E. (2.) In the case of the Recovery, 6 Robinson, 346. Sir William Scott observes, that the Act is not limited by considerations of what territories belonged to Great Britain at the time of passing it, but applies prospectively to future acquisitions as well as to our more ancient possessions. Speaking of the East Indies he says, "It is well known that our establishments in that quarter of the world have stood on a very peculiar footing, which it has been perhaps the policy of this country not to define with great exactness. They may have assumed a different character at different times, and it may be very important in effect, and very proper in point of principle, that the general maxims of our navigation system should be applied to them in their present state, although there might have been a greater anomaly in practically applying them at a former period. With regard to the first, he had always entertained the notion that they had not been hitherto so applied. But a case occurred not many years since, (Wilson v. Marryat, 8 T. R. 31.) which brought the consideration of the question in a distinct form before the courts of common law. After repeated arguments and much deliberation, the Court of King's Bench expressed an opinion that the navigation laws did extend to those countries; and, in a writ of error, the judgment of the King's Bench was affirmed, with a complete adoption of the doctrine laid down.-(1 B. & P. 432.) An Act of Parliament was afterwards passed, (37 Geo. III. c. 97. § 22. and c. 117.) to quiet the alarm which had been occasioned by this exposition of the law, and to recognize in general terms the policy of admitting foreign vessels to a regulated trade on certain conditions, which the East India Company was empowered to impose." The decision of the case of the recovery was, that the Prize Court of the Admiralty would not virtually take cognizance of an infraction of the Navigation Act, which is only a municipal regulation in persons not British subjects, although with respect to a British subject, in whom the violation of the laws of his own country carries with it malum in se, it might be done. The case of Wilson v. Marryat, mentioned in the above extract, did not turn immediately upon the question whether the British settlements in the East Indies were within the general operation of the Navigation Act; but it being taken for granted that they were so, the whole question in discussion related to the effect of a treaty allowing such trade to the subjects of the United States of America. (3.) By 20 Geo. II. c. 45. prize ships, legally condemned, shall be considered as British-built ships. (4.) By 13 Geo. II. c. 3. § 1-2. the King is entitled, in time of war, under certain regulations, to permit trading vessels to be manned with foreign seamen, not exceeding three fourths of the marines employed. (5.) In Idle v. Vanneck, Bunt. 232. the Barons of the Exchequer held, that notice in the Register was not necessary to create a forfeiture upon this Act, though for a small matter they thought it hard that a ship should be condemned. In Gresby v. Palmer, n. ibid. Reynolds, C. B. put the point on this distinction, whether goods so brought were part or not of the cargo; and therefore if mariners or passengers privately bring over a small parcel of goods, that is not to be looked upon as part of the cargo, and it would be hard if the ship should be forfeited for that. In Mitchell v. Torup, Parker 227. Lord Chief Baron Parker gives an elaborate opinion, "That a forfeiture on Section 4, in respect of an importation of 221lb. of tea, was not prevented from attaching by the finding of the jury, that they had been put on board without the knowledge, privity, or consent of the master, mate, or owners." He observed, "that the words of the Act in the first, second, third, and fourth sections were all equally negative, absolute, and prohibitory, they operate both on the goods and the ship, and there is not a syllable that hints at the privity or consent of the master, mate, or owners." "The Reason," he added, " of penning the section in these strong No. II. 12 Car. II. c. 18. his Majesty his heirs and successors; one-third part to the governor of such land plantation island or territory, where such default shall be committed in case the said ship or goods be there seized, or otherwise that third part also to his Majesty his heirs and successors; and the other third part to him or them who shall (6.) seize inform or sue for the same in any court of record by bill information plaint or other action, wherein no essoign protection or wager of law shall be allowed; and all admirals and other commanders at sea of any the ships of war or other ship having commission from his Majesty or from his heirs or successors, are hereby authorised and strictly required to seize and bring in as prize all such ships or vessels as shall have offended contrary hereunto, and deliver them to the Court of Admiralty there to be proceeded against; and in case of condemnation, one moiety of such forfeitures shall be to the use of such admirals or commanders and their companies to be divided and proportioned amongst them according to the rules and orders of the sea in case of ships taken prize; and the other moiety to the use of his Majesty his heirs and successors. II. And be it enacted, That no alien or person not born within the Aliens shall not allegiance of our Sovereign Lord the King his heirs and successors or exercise the naturalized or made a free denizen, shall from and after the first day of Occupation of February which will be in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred Merchants or and sixty-one, exercise the trade or occupation of a merchant or factor in Factors in the any of the said places, upon pain of the forfeiture and loss of all his goods Plantations. and chattels or which are in his possession; one-third to his Majesty his heirs and successors; one-third to the governor of the plantation where such person shall so offend; and the other third to him or them that shall inform or sue for the same in any of his Majesty's courts in the plantation where such offence shall be committed: and all governors of Governors, &c. the said lands islands plantations or territories and every of them are of Plantations hereby strictly required and commanded, and all who hereafter shall be to take an Oath made governors of any such islands plantations or territories by his Ma- for the Ob jesty his heirs or successors, shall before their entrance into their govern- servation of the ment take a solemn oath to do their utmost that every the aforemen- afore-mentiontioned clauses, and all the matters and things therein contained, shall be ed Clauses. punctually and bona fide observed according to the true intent and mean- Explained and ing thereof: and upon complaint and proof made before his Majesty his enforced by heirs and successors or such as shall be by him or them thereunto authorised and appointed, that any the said governors have been willingly and wittingly negligent in doing their duty accordingly, that the said governor so offending shall be removed from his government. 7 & 8 W. 3. c..22. sec. 4.. III. And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no For the Imgoods or commodities whatsoever of the growth production or manufac-portation of ture of Africa Asia or America or of any part thereof, or which are de- Thrown Silk. scribed or laid down in the usual maps or cards of those places, be im- see 2 W. & M. ported into England Ireland or Wales islands of Guernsey and Jersey or Sess. 1. c. 9. town of Berwick upon Tweed, in any other ship or ships vessel or vessels whatsoever but in such as do truly and without fraud belong only to the people of England or Ireland dominion of Wales or town of Berwick upon Tweed, or of the lands islands plantations or territories in Asia Africa or America, to his Majesty belonging as the proprietors and right owners terms was, to prevent as much as possible its being evaded; for, if the privity or consent of the master, mate or owners had been made necessary, the powers of the Act would have been defeated. In expounding Acts of Parliament, when words are express, plain, and clear, they ought to be understood according to their genuine and natural sig nification, unless by such exposition a contradiction or inconsistency would arise by reason of some subsequent clause, from whence it might be inferred that the intent of the Act was other wise.” He noticed the distinction made by C. B. Reynolds, as to whether goods were a part of the cargo or not which he recognized, but thought it did not apply to the case before him, for the quantity was not so small as to excuse the forfeiture. (6) An action of detinue may be maintained upon this Act by a common informer.-Robert v. Wetherhead, 12 Mcd. 192. 1 Salk. 223. 5 Mod. 195. Comb. 361. On trespass for taking a ship and plea that it was seized as forfeited under this Act, it is no answer to state in the replication that the defendant, without any sentence of condemnation, disposed of the ship for his own use. Wilkins v. Despard, 5 T. R. 112. |