proceed against any railway company for non-compliance with the provisions either of their special Act, or of the Acts of general regulation; or on their commission of any act unauthorized by law (r).

Provisions are also made to regulate the liability of a railway company for neglect or default in the carriage of goods (s); to authorize the summary apprehension and punishment of any engine-driver or servant of the company guilty of any misconduct (t); and to subject to severe punishment all ill-disposed persons obstructing or injuring any railway engine or carriage, or endangering the safety of the passengers (u).

Railway companies (amongst other obligations) are required to maintain and repair good and sufficient fences along their lines (x); to transport, at a settled rate, military and police forces (y), and mails (z); to afford all reasonable facilities for the conveyance of traffic, without undue preference of particular persons or companies, or particular descriptions of traffic (a); to permit and faci

(7) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, ss. 16-18. (8) See 8 & 9 Vict. c. 20, s. 89; 14 & 15 Vict. c. 19, ss. 6, 8, 10; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 31, s. 7; 31 & 32 Vict. c. 129, ss. 14-21, et vide sup. vol. II. p. 88, n. (e).

(t) 3 & 4 Vict. 97, ss. 13, 14; 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, ss. 17, 18.

(u) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 97, ss. 35— 38; c. 100, ss. 32-34. By c. 95, the previous provisions on this subject contained in 3 & 4 Vict. c. 97, and 14 & 15 Vict. c. 19, are repealed.

(x) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 55, s. 10. (y) Sect. 20; 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, s. 12. (z) 1 & 2 Vict. c. 98; 7 & 8 Vict. e. 85, s. 11.

(a) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 31, ss. 1-6. By this Act of 17 & 18 Vict. c. 31, called "The Railways and Canal

Traffic Act, 1854," it is made lawful for any company or person to make complaint in respect of any thing done or omitted to be done by any railway company in violation of the Act; and, if necessary, a writ of injunction or interdict may be issued to restrain the company from any further violation of it. This Act invested the Common Pleas with exclusive jurisdiction to carry out its provisions; but by 36 & 37 Vict. c. 48, a special tribunal has been now established for this purpose, viz., three paid commissioners (styled "The Railway Commissioners") and two assistant commissioners, with power to make general rules of procedure. These commissioners (whose powers are considerably more extensive than

litate the introduction of electrical telegraphs upon their lines (b); to keep a strict account of money received for the conveyance of passengers, or from other sources, upon their respective lines; to deliver the same to the Board of Inland Revenue; and to pay a monthly duty thereupon (c).

By one of the statutes above mentioned, viz. 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, it is provided, that if,—at any time after twentyone years from the passing of the special Act for any passenger railway established after the year 1844,-the average divisible profits for three successive years upon the paid-up capital stock of such passenger railway company shall be found to equal or exceed 107. per cent., the Lords of the Treasury shall be at liberty, (an act of parliament being first obtained for that purpose,) to revise and reduce the fares, upon condition of giving the company a guarantee to make good their profits to the amount of 107. per cent. during the existence of such reduced scale. The Treasury is also enabled, after the same period, to purchase any such railway on behalf of her Majesty, whatever may be the rate of divisible profits which may have been earned thereon (d). By the same Act passenger railway companies are also, in general, required to secure to the poorer class of travellers the means of travelling by railway at moderate fares and in carriages protected from the weather (e). By the same those given by the Act of 1854) are to make an annual report of their proceedings, which is to be laid before parliament.

(b) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, ss. 14, 15. As to maliciously injuring such telegraphs, see 24 & 25 Vict. c. 97, ss. 37, 38. As to their purchase by government, see 31 & 32 Vict. c. 110.

(c) 5 & 6 Vict. c. 79, s. 4; 10 & 11 Vict. c. 42.

(d) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, ss. 1-4. The sum to be paid for the railway is to be at the rate of twenty-fire years' purchase of the average profits for the preceding three years; but, if such profits are less than 107. per cent. and the company is dissatisfied, the price is to be settled by arbitration. (Sect. 3.)

(e) The rate of fare for thirdclass passengers by the cheap or government trains thus provided is

statute they are, moreover, prohibited from raising loans for the future on negotiable securities, except as authorized by parliamentary enactment (g); and by 8 & 9 Vict. c. 16, ss. 38-55, a variety of additional regulations are made in regard to the case of their borrowing money on bond or mortgage (h).

We may also specifically notice two other of the group of statutes above cited. In the 30 & 31 Vict. c. 127, there are to be found a variety of provisions as to the position of railway companies, in regard to their financial arrangements and the protection of their creditors on the one hand and the shareholders on the other, in case of their being unable to meet their engagements (i). And the 31 & 32 Vict. c. 119, deals with the accounts of companies and the protection of their shareholders by inspection, and a proper system of audits; while it also contains a variety of provisions to secure the safety and comfort of the general public. Of these clauses we can only refer here to the important regulation that in every passenger train which travels more than twenty miles without stopping, there shall be provided such sufficient means of communication between the passengers and the servants

not to exceed one penny per mile. See also on this subject 21 & 22 Vict. c. 75, made perpetual by 23 & 24 Vict. c. 41.

(g) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85, s. 19. (h) As to the legal remedy on the mortgage debenture and bonds of railway companies, see Hart v. Eastern Union Railway Company, 7 Exch. 246; Virtue . East Anglian Railway Company, 6 Railway Cases, 252; Prince v. Great Western Railway Company, 16 Mee. & W. 244; Shelford on the Law of Railways, pp. 157-161, 3rd edit. See also 28 & 29 Vict. c. 78, and 33 & 34

Vict. c. 20; "The Mortgage Debenture Acts, 1865, 1870."

(i) General Orders under this Act were issued on the 24th January, 1868. See also the following cases: In re Cambrian Railway Company's Scheme, Law Rep., 3 Ch. App. 278; In re Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway Company, ib., 5 Ch. App. 67; In re Devon and Somerset Railway Company, ib., 6 Eq. Ca. 615; In re Bristol and North Somerset Railway Company, ib. 448; In re East and West Junction Railway Company, ib., 8 Eq. Ca. 87.

of the company in charge of the train, as the Board of Trade shall approve (j).

III. Conveyances by water.

The class of legislative provisions that require to be noticed under this head, are those which relate to the carriage of passengers in merchant vessels (k).

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And, first, as to steamers, it is provided by the Merchant Shipping Acts (1), that every "passenger steamer"-that is, "every British steam-ship carrying passengers to, from, or between any place or places in the united kingdom, excepting steam ferry-boats working in chains, commonly "called steam bridges,"-shall be surveyed and reported upon to the Board of Trade at least once in the year (m); and shall proceed on no voyage with passengers, unless the owner or master has received from the board a certificate applicable to the voyage, and showing that the provisions of the Acts have been complied with (n). And if the person in charge receives on board any number of passengers greater than the number allowed by the certificate, the owner or master is liable to pecuniary penaltics. Provisions are also made against various kinds of misconduct by the passengers (o); and the master of every ship carrying any passenger between any place in the united kingdom (or the channel islands), and any other place so situate, shall, when navigating within the limits

(j) 31 & 32 Vict. c. 119, s. 22. (k) There are also provisions as to boats and barges on the River Thames; but these being of a local character are not noticed in the text. (See as to these, 2 & 3 Philip & Mary, c. 16; 22 & 23 Vict. c. xxxiii.)

(1) Of the previous Acts as to passengers in merchant vessels, the 4 Geo. 4, c. 88, and 14 & 15 Vict. c 79, were repealed by 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120, sched.; and the 15 & 16 Vict. c. 44, by 18 & 19 Vict. c. 119, s. 1.

The 16 & 17 Vict. c. 84, as to passages between Ceylon and certain parts of the East Indies,-and 18 & 19 Vict. c. 104, called "The Chinese Passengers Act, 1855,❞— are still in force.

(m) See 35 & 36 Vict. c. 73, s. 8. (n) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, ss. 312,

318.

(0) Sects. 322-325; and see, also, 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, ss. 3537.

of any district for which pilots are licensed, (unless he or his mate has a certificate enabling him to conduct the vessel himself,) employ a qualified pilot; and, if he fails to do so, is liable to a penalty not exceeding 1007. (p).

As to passenger ships generally, there are the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 119, called "The Passengers Act, 1855," the 26 & 27 Vict. c. 51, called "The Passengers Amendment Act, 1863," and the 35 & 36 Vict. c. 73, ss. 5-8, the enactments whereof extend to every sea-going vessel, whether British or foreign, which carries more than fifty passengers (q), from the united kingdom, to any place out of Europe, and not being within the Mediterranean Sea(); and, also, to every such colonial voyage as therein described (s). These Acts commit the execution of their provisions to "the Board of Trade" (t); or, in her Majesty's possessions abroad, to the officers there specially appointed for the purpose; or where there are none, or in their absence, to the chief customs officer of the place (u). They provide that no "passenger ship" shall (under penalty of forfeiture to the crown) clear out to sea, until duly surveyed and reported seaworthy: nor until the master shall have obtained, from the proper authority at the port of clearance, a certificate that the requirements of the Acts have been duly complied with; and that the ship is seaworthy, in safe trim, and in all respects fit for her voyage, and her passengers and crew in a fit state to proceed: nor until the master shall have joined in a bond to the crown in the sum of 2,000l., conditioned, inter alia, for the seaworthiness of the vessel (x). The Acts also

(p) 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 354. See "The Hanna," Law Rep., 1 Adm. & Ecc. 283.

(4) See 26 & 27 Vict. c. 51, s. 3.
(r) See 18 & 19 Vict. c. 119, s. 4.
(8) Ibid.

(t) 35 & 36 Vict. c. 73. s. 5.
(u) 18 & 19 Vict. c. 119, ss. 8, 9.
(x) Sects. 11, 12, 19; 26 & 27 Vict.

c. 51, ss. 13, 17. By this last section, if neither the owners nor charterers reside in the united kingdom, the bond is to be for 5,000l. See also the enactments which have been now made in regard to the seaworthiness of every British ship, whether a passenger ship or otherwise, mentioned sup. pp. 153, 154.