amount, (or such amount as the Board of Trade thinks fit to accept by way of compromise,)-he is to be at liberty, upon repayment to the ship owner of the amount he has thus paid, to bring his action for damages, as if no power of instituting an inquiry had been given to the Board. This, however, is subject to a proviso, that any damages which he may recover shall be payable only out of the residue (if any) of the aggregate amount for which the owner is liable, after deducting therefrom all sums he has paid to the paymaster-general; and if the damages recovered do not exceed double the statutory amount, he shall pay the defendant all the costs of the action, to be taxed as between attorney and client (ƒ).

Nor are these the only provisions of the Acts for protection of the shipowner; for it is also enacted (g), that in all cases where there are several claims against any owner for compensation,-whether for loss of life or personal injury, or for the loss or damage of ships, boats or goods, equitable proceedings may be instituted at the suit of the owner (subject only to the right given as above mentioned to the Board of Trade), for the purpose of determining his aggregate liability; and the court may distribute the amount rateably among the several claimants; and stop all other proceedings in relation to the same subject-matter (h).

With regard, however, to all the provisions of these Acts, tending to the benefit of the shipowner, it is material to remark, that none of them is to lessen or to take away any liability to which any master or seaman, being also owner or part owner of the ship to which he belongs, is subject in his capacity of master or seaman (i). Moreover, they do not, in general, extend to any but recognized

(f) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 511. (g) Sect. 514.

(h) As to proceedings at the suit of the ship owner, see 53 Geo. 3, c. 159; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 125, s. 88;

23 & 24 Vict. c. 126, ss. 34, 35; 24 Vict. c. 10, s. 13; "The Guldfaxe," Law Rep., 2 Ad. & Ecc. Ca. 325.

(i) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 514.

British ships (k); but to this an exception is made in favour of shipowners sued for damages in consequence of a loss arising without their actual fault or privity, for the limitation of the damages to which they are in such cases answerable, applies (it will be observed) to a foreign as well as a British ship (7).

VII. The laws relating to fisheries.

We cannot, consistently with the design and limits of the present work, attempt to detail the numerous provisions which our statute book contains in regard to fisheries. It will suffice to point out some of the principal features of our policy in relation to this subject.

And, first, we may remark, (as to England and Scotland,) that a great variety of enactments have been passed in modern times relating to fisheries; and especially for the protection of the breed of fish, and the prevention of any practices tending to destroy the spawn or fry. These are chiefly contained in the following statutes:-18 Geo. III. c. 33; 44 Geo. III. c. xlv; 46 Geo. III. c. xix; 9 Geo. IV. c. 39; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 95; 8 & 9 Vict. c. 26; 9 & 10 Vict. c. 80; 10 & 11 Vict. cc. 91, 92; 14 & 15 Vict. c. 26; 21 & 22 Vict. c. cxli; 23 & 24 Vict. c. 92; 24 & 25 Vict. cc. 72, 109; 25 & 26 Vict. c. 97; 26 & 27 Vict. c. 50; 27 & 28 Vict. c. 118; 28 & 29 Vict. cc. 22, 121; 29 & 30 Vict. c. 102; 30 & 31 Vict. c. 52; 31 & 32

Vict. cc. 45, 111; 32 & 33 Vict. c. 31; 33 & 34 Vict. c. 103; 36 Vict. c. 13; 36 & 37 Vict. cc. 71, 75 (m).

(k) Sect. 516. As to the term "recognized British ship," vide sup. p. 148.

(1) Vide sup. p. 162. It may be here remarked, that foreign ships, while within British jurisdiction, are now made subject to certain of the regulations contained in the Merchant Shipping Acts for preventing collisions, and as to the

carriage of dangerous goods, and in reference to salvage of life. (See 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, ss. 38, 57-59.)

(m) Of the above group of statutes, especial notice is due to the "Salmon Fishery Acts, 1861 to 1873," viz. 24 & 25 Vict. c. 109; 29 & 30 Vict. c. 102, and 36 & 37 Vict. c. 71 (as to which see Leconfield v. Lonsdale, Law Rep., 5 C. P.

Secondly, that the trade in fish, as regards the cities of London and Westminster, is governed by certain statutes passed for its regulation; the general object of which is to secure a supply of fresh fish to those cities, and to prevent the same being forestalled. These Acts are 2 Geo. III. c. 15; 9 & 10 Vict. c. cccxlvi; and 22 & 23 Vict. c. 29.

Thirdly, that fresh fish of British taking, and imported in British ships, may be landed in this country without report or entry (n).

Fourthly, that Acts have been of late years frequently passed, enabling commissioners, appointed for the purpose, to sanction the loan of monies out of the consolidated fund, for the encouragement of the fisheries, as well as of public works and other national undertakings; the last of which Acts was the 30 & 31 Vict. c. 32.

Fifthly, that bounties were formerly payable by statute, upon the taking and curing of fish of various descriptions, and on the vessels employed in various branches of the fisheries; but that the policy of the legislature in this respect is now altered, and that these bounties were abolished by 1 & 2 Geo. IV. 79; 5 Geo. IV. c. 64; and 7 Geo. IV. c. 34 (0).

Sixthly, that the fisheries of Ireland (in particular) are now regulated by recent Acts, viz. 5 & 6 Vict. c. 106; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 108; 8 & 9 Vict. c. 108; 9 & 10 Vict. cc. 3, 114; 10 & 11 Vict. c. 75; 11 & 12 Vict. c. 92; 13 & 14 Vict. c. 88; 26 & 27 Vict. c. 114(p);

657; Watts v. Lucas, ib., 6 Q. B. 226; Gore v. Commissioners, ib. 561; Holford v. George, ib., 3 Q. B. 639; Garnett v. Whyte, ib. 699). See also 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, ss. 24-26, as to stealing or unlawfully destroying fish, and 26 & 27 Vict. c. 10, as to exportation of salmon.

(n) 16 & 17 Vict. c. 107, s. 49.

(0) The 7 Geo. 4, c. 34, and some of the provisions of 1 & 2 Geo. 4, c. 79, and of 5 Geo. 4, c. 64, were repealed by 31 & 32 Vict. c. 45. The curing of herrings is regulated by 14 & 15 Vict. c. 26.

(p) Continued by 31 & 32 Vict. c. 111.

28 & 29 Vict. c. 119; 29 & 30 Vict. c. 45; and 32 & 33 Vict. c. 92;-and by these almost all the former statutes on that subject are repealed, and their provisions consolidated and amended.

Lastly, that in the year 1867, a convention having been entered into between her Majesty and the then Emperor of the French concerning the fisheries in the seas adjoining the British Islands and France, provisions to carry into effect such of the arrangements thereof as required the confirmation of the legislature, are contained in the 31 & 32 Vict. c. 45 (q). Treaties also exist between her Majesty and the United States of America, relating inter alia to the rights of fishery as between the British North American colonies and the United States; and such treaties were carried into effect by the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 3, and the 35 & 36 Vict. c. 45 (r).

(1) By this Act the 6 & 7 Vict. c. 79, and 18 & 19 Vict. c. 101, are repealed.

(r) This Act carries into effect the treaty which was signed at Washington, 8 May, 1871.

CHAPTER IX.

OF THE LAWS RELATING TO THE SANITARY
CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.

THE attention of the legislature has, from the reign of James the first, been at various times directed to the subject of pestilent and contagious disease; and to the establishment of such precautions as human knowledge and sagacity may devise for averting its course or mitigating its effects.

The enactments which were introduced in reference to this matter, had principally in view the Plague, and afterwards the particular maladies of Cholera, and Small-pox; but sanitary regulations of a far more general character have, within a recent period, been copiously established. With respect to Plague, very stringent enactments were made by 1 Jac. I. c. 31;-under which indeed it was a capital felony for any person having an infectious sore upon him uncured to go abroad and converse in company, after being commanded by the proper authority to keep his house. The necessity, however, of any regulations adapted to an actual prevalence of plague among us, has been long since at an end,-no disease of the kind having been known in this island for more than 200 years past; and the statute of James on this subject was repealed in the reign of her present Majesty (a).

But besides this Act, our statute book contains several of which the object is not so much to regulate the con

(a) 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 91, s. 4.