I.  Europa.  623  35.  Großbritannien  und  Irland.

cannot  own  sBritish  ship.  All  British  ships  must  beregistered  (at  Board  of  Trade),  except  some  small
vessels  not  exceeding  15  or  30  tons  burden,  specially  employed  as  mentioned  in  the  Merchant  Shipping
  Act  18941.  The  property  in  &amp;  ship  is  to  be  divided  into  64  shares,  and  not  more  than  64  individuals
  may  be  registered  at  the  same  time  as  part  owners  of  any  one  ship,  but  any  number  of  persons
not  exceeding  5  may  be  registered  as  joint  owners  of  a  ship,  or  any  share  or  shares  therein,  and  a
corporation  may  be  registered  as  owner  in  its  corporate  name.  A  declaration  has  to  be  made
and  subscribed  on  registration  of  ownership.  Though  any  number  of  persons  may  have  beneficial
shares  or  interests  in  registered  ships  or  shares,  only  the  registered  owners  are  recognised  as
owners,  though  they  may  be  only  trustees.  The  register  will  take  no  notice  of  any  trusts  nor
may  any  be  entered  therein.  Transfers  of  the  ownership  of  ships  or  shares  can  only  be  made  by
bill  of  sale  in  the  prescribed  form,  and  attested  by  one  or  more  witnesses,  and  similarly  mortgages
of  them  must  be  in  the  prescribed  form,  and  all  bills  of  sale  or  mortgages  must  be  produced  to
the  registrar  of  the  port  where  the  ship  is  registered,  and  recorded  in  the  register  in  priority
according  to  date  of  their  registration.  Certificates  of  mortgage  or  sale  will  be  issued  by  the
registrar,  and  provision  exists  for  transmission  of  interests  through  death,  bankruptcy,  and
marriage  of  owners  or  mortgagees,  also  for  re-registration,  and  the  transfer  of  registry  from  one
port  to  another.

(2)  Navigation  and  Laws  relating  to  the  Mercantile  Marine  were  formerly  regulated  by,
the  celebrated  Navigation  Act  passed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  (12  Car.  II.  c.  18).  This  statute
writes  Stephen,  was  an  improvement  on  our  earlier  system,  which  was  framed  in  1650.  ...  The
original  navigation  law  prohibited  all  ships  of  foreign  nations  from  trading  with  any  English
plantation  without  licence.  .  .  .  In  1651,  the  prohibition  was  also  extended  to  the  mother  country:
and  no  goods  were  suffered  to  be  imported  into  England,  or  any  of  its  dependencies,  in  any  other
than  English  bottoms,  or  in  the  ships  of  that  European  nation  of  which  the  merchandize  imported
  was  the  genuine  growth  or  manufacture.  All  this  was  included  in  12  Car.  II.  c.  18,  with
the  addition  that  the  master  and  three-fourths  of  the  mariners  should  be  British  subjects.

The  last  restrictions  on  the  trade  of  foreign  ships  in  British  dominions  was  removed  in  18543.

For  further  information  on  above  subject  consult:  Adam  Smith,  Wealth  of  Nations,  vol.  2.
p.  194;  Lindsay,  Hist.  of  Merchant  Shipping  (1874);  Mande  and  Pollock,  Law  of  Merchant
Shipping;  Abbot,  Treatise  on  the  Law  relative  to  Merchant  Ships  and  Seamen;  Blackstone
and  Stephen’s  Commentaries;  Maclachlan  on  Merchant  Shipping.  Further:  Digest  of  Shipping
Acts  (The  Shipping  World  Year  Book),  Whitaker’'s  Almanack;  Lloyd’s  Register.  }

Rallways.

Railways  in  Great  Britain  do  not  belong  to  the  State,  but  to  private  companies.  They
are  however  to  a  certain  extent  controlled  and  regulated  by  the  Board  of  Trade.  And  their
existence  depends  on  various  acts  of  Parliament,  which  liave  to  be  passed  before  a  railway  can
be  built.  The  chief  acts  concerning  railways  are  the  “Railway  Clauses  Consolidation  Act  1845’
(8  and  9  Vict.  c.  20)  and  the  “Railway  Clauses  Act,  1863”  (26  and  27  Vict.  c.  92)*,

Authorities  on  the  subject  of  British  Railways  are:  W.M.  Ackworth,  The  Railways  of
England,  5th.  Ed.  1906;  Boyle  and  Waghorn’s  Railway  and  Canal  Traffic,  Lond.  1901;  Butterworth’s
  Railway  Commissioner’s  Practice,  Lond.  1889;  Shelford’s  Law  of  Railways,  Lond.  1869;
Encyclopaedis  of  Forms  and  Precedents,  Vol.  XI;  J.  Pendleton,  Our  Railways;  Their  Origin,
Development  etc.  Lond.  1896.

ı  This  Act  deals  I.  with  Registry,  II.  with  Masters  and  Seamen,  III.  with  Passengers  and
Seamen,  IV,  with  Fishing  Boats,  V.  with  Safety,  VI.  with  Special  Shipping  Inquiries  and  Courte,
VID.  with  Delivery  of  Goods,  VIII.  Liability  of  Shipo  where,  X  Wreck  and  Salvage,  X.  Pilotage,
XI.  with  Lighthouses,  XII.  Mercantile  Marine  Fund,  XII.  with  Legal  Proceedings,  and  XIV.  conferring
  upon  Board  of  Trade  (q.  v.  p.  624)  a  general  power  of  superintendence  of  merchant  shipping.

®  Commentaries,  vol.  III,  pp.  143/4/b.

®  See  12  and  13  Vict.  c.  29;  17  and  18  Vict.  c.  5;  18  and  19  Vict.  c.  96,  $$  13,  14,  15.

©  Vide  for  further  acts  Stephen‘  s  Commentaries,  vol.  III,  p.  182,  and  for  further  general
information  idem,  II,  88,  n.;  III.  9,  n.  182—7;  IV,  95.