to summon of either party, summon to his assistance in such manner as general orders nautical asses- shall direct two nautical assessors, and such nautical assessors shall attend and assist accordingly (h). sors to his assistance. Decrees in County Courts in admiralty causes to have same force as those in civil causes. Admiralty causes to be 12. The decree of the County Court in an admiralty cause shall be enforced against the person or persons summoned as the defendant or defendants in the same manner as the decrees of the said Court are enforced in ordinary civil causes, save and except as in this act otherwise provided. 13. The judge of every County Court having admiralty jurisdiction shall hear and determine admiralty causes at the usual Courts held within heard at usual his jurisdiction, or at special Courts to be held by him, and which he is hereby required to hold as soon as may be after he shall have had notice of an admiralty cause having arisen within the jurisdiction of his Court. Courts. Appointment of assessors in County Court. Attendance of assessors. Removal of assessors. Remuneration of registrars. Scale of costs. Power to registrars to 14. The registrar of each County Court having admiralty jurisdiction shall from time to time frame a list, to be approved by the judge of the High Court of Admiralty before whom the same shall be laid by the County Court judge, and without whose approval it shall have no validity, of assessors, of persons of nautical skill and experience residing or having places of business within the district of the County Court, to act as assessors in that Court, and shall cause the list to be published in the London Gazette. 15. Every person named in the list of assessors so framed and approved shall attend the County Court under such circumstances, and in such rotation, and subject to such regulations, and shall receive such fees for his attendance, as general orders shall direct, and for every wilful nonattendance shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to a penalty not exceeding five pounds. 16. Every assessor named in such list shall hold his office until a new list of assessors shall have been framed and approved as aforesaid, or until he shall resign his appointment. 17. The registrars of the County Courts shall be remunerated for their duties in admiralty causes by receiving for their own use such fees as general orders shall direct. 18. A scale of costs and charges in admiralty causes in the County Courts shall be prescribed by general orders (i). 19. The registrar of a County Court shall have power to administer oaths in relation to any admiralty cause in a County Court; and any oaths and take person who shall wilfully depose or affirm falsely before the registrar in administer evidence. Evidence be fore registrar receivable in Admiralty Court. any admiralty cause shall be deemed to be guilty of perjury, and shall be liable to all the pains and penalties attaching to wilful and corrupt perjury. 20. Evidence taken in any admiralty cause before the registrar of a County Court, as the judge of a County Court or general orders shall direct, shall be received as evidence in any other County Court, saving all just exceptions; and the registrar of any County Court shall, for the purpose of the examination of any witnesses within the district of that Court, have all and the like powers and authorities of an examiner of the High Court of Admiralty of England, and evidence taken by him in that capacity shall be received as evidence in the High Court of Admiralty of England, saving all just exceptions. (7) See the County Courts Admiralty Jurisdiction Act, 1869, s. 5. (i) The scale of costs now in force is set out, Weekly Notes (Miscellaneous), Nov. 20, 1875, p. 566. 21. Proceedings in an admiralty cause shall be commenced- (3.) If for any reason the last foregoing rule is not applicable or (4.) In any case in the County Court or one of the County Courts having admiralty jurisdiction in which the parties by a memorandum, signed by them or by their attorneys or agents, agree shall have jurisdiction in the cause. As to proceedings in County Court for com mencement of cause. 22. In an admiralty cause in a County Court if evidence be given to Limitation of the satisfaction of the judge, or in his absence the registrar of the Court, arrest. that it is probable that the vessel or property to which the cause relates will be removed out of the jurisdiction of the Court before the plaintiff's claim is satisfied, it shall be lawful for the said judge, or in his absence for the registrar, to issue a warrant for the arrest and detention of the said vessel or property, unless or until bail to the amount of the claim made in such cause, and to the reasonable costs of the plaintiff in such cause, be entered into and perfected, according to general orders, by or on behalf of the owner of the vessel or property or his agent, or other the defendant in such cause; and, except as in this section expressly provided, there shall be no arrest or detention of a vessel or property in an admiralty cause in a County Court otherwise than in execution. 23. For the execution of any decree or order of a County Court in an Power to issue admiralty cause the Court may order, and the registrar on such order process. may seal and issue, and any officer of any County Court may execute, process according to general orders; provided that where under such process a vessel or property would or might be sold, then, if the owner of the vessel or property desires that the sale should be conducted in the High Court of Admiralty instead of in the County Court, he shall be entitled, on security for costs being first given, and subject and according to such other provisions as general orders direct, to obtain an order of the County Court for transfer of the proceedings for sale, with or without (as the judge of the County Court thinks fit) the transfer of the subsequent proceedings in the cause, to the High Court of Admiralty, which Court shall have jurisdiction and all powers and authorities relating thereto accordingly. 24. Such decrees and orders of County Courts in admiralty causes as Registration general orders shall direct shall be registered with the registrar of of decrees and County Court judgments in London in such manner as general orders orders. shall direct. 25. The Court of Passage of the borough of Liverpool shall, upon an Concurrent order in council (j) being made which shall appoint the County Court of jurisdiction of Lancashire holden at Liverpool to have admiralty jurisdiction, have the the Court of like jurisdiction, powers, and authorities as by that order are conferred Passage. on the said County Court; but nothing herein shall be deemed to enlarge the area over which the jurisdiction of the Court of Passage extends, or to alter the rules and regulations for holding the said Court, or to take (j) See post, "Orders in Council." Appeal to Time for appeal. Agreement not to appeal. As to appeals to the Queen in Council. Costs of appeal. No appeal away or restrict any jurisdiction, power, or authority already vested in that Court; and fees received in that Court under this act shall be dealt with as fees received in that Court under its ordinary jurisdiction. 26. An appeal may be made to the High Court of Admiralty of England from a final decree or order of a County Court (k) in an admiralty cause, and, by permission of the judge of the County Court, from any interlocutory decree or order therein, on security for costs being first given, and subject to such other provisions as general orders shall direct (1). 27. No appeal shall be allowed unless the instrument of appeal is lodged in the registry of the High Court of Admiralty within ten days from the date of the decree or order appealed from, but the judge of the High Court of Admiralty of England may, on sufficient cause being shown to his satisfaction for such omission, allow (m) an appeal to be prosecuted, notwithstanding that the instrument of appeal has not been lodged within that time (n). 28. No appeal shall be allowed if, before the decree or order is made, the parties shall have agreed by a memorandum signed by them, or by their attorneys or agents, that the decree or order shall be final; and any such agreement need not be stamped, except in respect of any fee imposed by general orders. 29. There shall be no appeal from a decreee or order of the High Court of Admiralty of England made on appeal from a County Court, except by express permission of the judge of the High Court of Admiralty (0). 30. On an appeal under this act, when the appellant is unsuccessful, he shall pay the costs of the appeal, unless the Appellate Court shall otherwise direct (p). 31. No appeal shall be allowed unless the amount decreed or ordered unless amount to be due exceeds the sum of fifty pounds (q). exceeds 507. Conduct of In certain cases causes may be transferred by 32. On an appeal under this act, the judge of the High Court of Admiralty, if it appears to him expedient that any sale decreed or ordered to be made of the vessel or property to which the cause relates should be conducted in the High Court of Admiralty instead of in the County Court from which the appeal is brought, may direct the transfer of the proceedings for sale, with or without the transfer of the subsequent proceedings in the cause, to the High Court of Admiralty, which Court shall have jurisdiction, and all powers and authorities relating thereto accordingly. 33. In all cases which shall arise within the jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports as defined by the Act first and second George the Fourth, chapter seventy-six, section eighteen, causes may be transferred by the County (k) See The Dowse, L. R., 3 A. & E. 135. (1) See The Samuel Laing, L. R., (m) See The Amstel, 2 P. D. 186. (0) This section is repealed by the c. 50), s. 12. See sect. 10 of that act. (p) See Rules of the Supreme Court, Order LV.; and Garnett v. Bradley, 3 App. Cas. 944. (9) See The Elizabeth, L. R., 3 A. & E. 33; and The Falcon, 3 P. D. See also the County Courts Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 50), s. 10; The Two Brothers, 1 P. D. 52; and Rules of the Supreme Court, December, 1876, rule 11. Court and appeals made to the Court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports in County Court lieu of the High Court of Admiralty; and in the case of appeals the and appeals instrument of appeal shall be lodged in the registry of the Cinque Ports, made to Court and the same discretion vested in the judge official and commissary of the of Admiralty of the Cinque said Cinque Ports Court as is by this act vested in the judge of the High Ports. Court of Admiralty. 34. This act shall be read as one act with so much of the County County Court Courts Act, 1846(r), and the acts amending or extending the same, as is Acts applied now in force. 35. General orders shall be from time to time made under this act for the purposes in this act directed, and for regulating the practice and procedure of the admiralty jurisdiction of the County Courts, the forms of processes and proceedings therein or issuing therefrom, and the days and places of sittings for admiralty causes, the duties of the judges and officers thereof, and the fees to be taken therein (8). to this act. 36. General orders under this act shall be made by the Lord Chancellor, Authority with the advice and assistance of the judge of the High Court of Admi- for making ralty of England, and, as far as they relate to fees, or to the receipt and general orders. expenditure of and accounting for money, with the approval of the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury. 31 & 32 VICT. c. 86. An Act to enable Assignees of Marine Policies to sue thereon in their Be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. Whenever a policy of insurance on any ship, or on any goods in any ship, or on any freight, has been assigned, so as to pass the beneficial interest in such policy to any person entitled to the property thereby insured, the assignee of such policy shall be entitled to sue thereon in his own name (t); and the defendant in any action shall be entitled to make any defence which he would have been entitled to make if the said action had been brought in the name of the person by whom or for whose account the policy sued upon was effected (u). Assignees of marine polices may sue thereon in their own names. 2. It shall be lawful to make any assignment of a policy of insurance Assignment by by endorsement on the policy in the words or to the effect set forth in the endorsement. schedule hereto. 3. For the purposes and in the construction of this act the term Interpretation policy of insurance or "policy" shall mean any instrument by which of terms. the payment of money is assured or secured on the happening of any of the contingencies named or contemplated in the instrument of assurance 9 & 10 Vict. c. 95. See Weekly Notes (Miscellaneous), Nov. 20, 1875, p. 489, where the County Court Rules now in force are set out. (t) See the Judicature Act, 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 66), s. 25, subs. 6. (u) See Lloyd v. Fleming, L. R., 7 Q. B. 299; and North of England Pure Oil Cake Company v. Archangel Maritime Insurance Co., L. R., 10 Q. B. 249. Short title. known as "Lloyd's policy," or in any other form adopted for insuring ships, freights, and goods carried by sea. 4. This act may be cited for all purposes as "The Policies of Marine Assurance Act, 1868." SCHEDULE. FORM OF ASSIGNMENT. I, A. B., of, &c., do hereby assign unto C. D., &c., his executors, administrators, and assigns, the within policy of assurance on the ship, freight, and the goods therein carried [or on ship or freight or goods, as the case may be]. In witness whereof, &c. 31 & 32 VICT. c. 129. An Act to amend the Law relating to the Registration of Ships in BE it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the 1. The governor or officer lawfully administering the government of any British possession may from time to time, with the approval of one of her Majesty's principal secretaries of state, make regulations providing that on an application for registration under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, in that possession of any ship not exceeding sixty tons burden, the registrar may grant, in lieu of a certificate of registry as required by that act, a certificate of registry to be terminable at the end of six months from the granting thereof, or of any longer period; and all certificates of registry granted under any such regulations shall be in such form and shall have effect subject to such conditions as the regulations prescribe. 2. Notwithstanding anything in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, or in any other act, any ship to which a certificate is granted under any such regulations shall, while such certificate is in force, and in relation to all things done or omitted during that period, be deemed a registered British ship. 3. The governor of any British possession abroad may from time to time appoint fit and proper persons to be surveyors, who shall have and exercise within such possession all the powers with respect to the inspection of crew spaces that are conferred upon the Board of Trade surveyors in the United Kingdom by section nine of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1867. 4. This act shall be read as one act with the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and the acts amending the same. 5. This act may be cited as "The Colonial Shipping Act, 1868." |