12. Proceedings in Limitation of Liability.—
The shipowner is entitled to limit his liability on account of the ship to its value in many cases and the General Admiralty Rules promulgated by the Supreme Court provide a very valuable proceeding for this purpose. In substance, whenever an owner is threatened with a multiplicity of suits on account of damage done by his ship, or by a claim or claims in excess of her value, and he is not personally liable on such account, he may file a petition in the proper court and surrender the ship to a trustee or give a bond for her appraised value. All other suits are thereupon stayed and all creditors must present their claims in the proceeding which he has so instituted. In effect, it is a maritime bankruptcy by which the ship, or her value, is surrendered to creditors for pro rata division and the owner goes free from further claims. It is the application of one of the underlying doctrines of the maritime law by which a shipowner, on abandoning the ship, can protect himself from further responsibility on her account.
[32] In admiralty an attorney is called a proctor. The term is being generally abandoned.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
SUMMARY OF NAVIGATION LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES
Jasper Yeates Brinton[33]
| I. | Ship Registry | [228] | ||
| General | [228] | |||
| Registry and Nationality | [228] | |||
| Registry and the Flag | [229] | |||
| Registry and Ownership | [229] | |||
| Vessels Entitled to American Registry | [229] | |||
| Forms of Register, Enrollment and License | [231] | |||
| Restrictions as to Coastwise Trade | [231] | |||
| Procedure for Documenting Vessels | [232] | |||
| 1. | Presentation of Carpenter's Certificate | [232] | ||
| 2. | Surveyor's Certificate of Measurement | [232] | ||
| 3. | Securing and Marking of Official Number | [233] | ||
| 4. | Marking of Official Tonnage | [233] | ||
| 5. | Marking of Name and Home Port | [233] | ||
| 6. | Evidence that Number, Tonnage, Name and Home Port are Properly Marked | [234] | ||
| 7. | Owner's Oath | [234] | ||
| 8. | Master's Oath | [235] | ||
| 9. | Special Oath by a Corporation | [235] | ||
| 10. | Evidence of Outstanding Certificate of Inspection | [235] | ||
| Bill of Sale Not Required on Original Documentation | [236] | |||
| Surrender and Reissue of Documents | [236] | |||
| II. | Recording of Bills of Sale | [237] | ||
| III. | Preferred Mortgages under Merchant Marine Act | [238] | ||
| IV. | Change of Name | [240] | ||
| V. | Entry and Clearance | [241] | ||
| VI. | Shipping Articles | [242] | ||
| VII. | Licensing and Qualifications of Officers | [244] | ||
| VIII. | Qualifications of Seamen | [245] | ||
| Age | [246] | |||
| Service and Physical Qualification | [246] | |||
| Lifeboat Men | [246] | |||
| Language | [246] | |||
| IX. | Nationality of Officers and Crew | [246] | ||
| Officers | [246] | |||
| Crew | [247] | |||
| X. | Wages | [247] | ||
| Advances | [247] | |||
| XI. | Watch and Watch and Work-Day | [248] | ||
| XII. | Provisions for Crew | [249] | ||
| Sleeping Quarters | [249] | |||
| Washing Places | [249] | |||
| Provisions Scale | [249] | |||
| Hospital Accommodations | [250] | |||
| Warm Room and Woolen Clothing | [250] | |||
| XIII. | Personal Injuries to Seamen and Recoveries for Death | [250] | ||
| XIV. | Offenses by Seamen | [251] | ||
| Mutiny, Desertion and Disobedience | [251] | |||
| Miscellaneous Offenses | [252] | |||
| Assistance in Case of Collision | [252] | |||
| XV. | Rules of the Road | [253] | ||
| XVI. | Pilotage | [253] | ||
| XVII. | Length of Hawsers | [254] | ||
| XVIII. | Inspection of Steam Vessels | [255] | ||
| Barges | [255] | |||
| The Certificate of Inspection | [255] | |||
| Manning of Inspected Vessels | [256] | |||
| XIX. | Register Tonnage | [256] | ||
| XX. | Tonnage Taxes | [257] | ||
| XXI. | Navigation Fees | [258] | ||
| XXII. | Annual List of Merchant Vessels | [258] | ||
| XXIII. | Numbering of Undocumented Motor Boats | [258] | ||
| XXIV. | Administration of Navigation Laws | [259] | ||
| Commissioner of Navigation | [259] | |||
| Steamboat Inspection Service | [259] | |||
| Shipping Commissioners | [260] | |||
| XXV. | The Shipping Board | [260] | ||
SUMMARY OF THE NAVIGATION LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES
While the navigation laws of the United States are in many respects the most advanced and progressive of any in the world, the form in which they exist is far from satisfactory and is a serious handicap on their usefulness. They are voluminous and complicated and in much confusion. Even on comparatively simple topics it is often impossible to distinguish the law of to-day from the law of yesterday.
The reason is not hard to find. It lies in the fact that these laws represent one of the oldest bodies of statute law in the books, and for well over a century have been subject to a steady piecemeal amendment, but with little or no attempt at revision or codification. The result is that on almost every subject there is a bewildering overgrowth of laws—law after law covering and partly modifying, but seldom explicitly repealing, the older law, which thus remains as a stumbling block to even the expert reader.
A complete revision is urgently needed and has been undertaken by the Shipping Board. In the meantime, it is of course desirable that knowledge of the laws as they exist shall be made as conveniently accessible as possible and the summary herewith is presented as a contribution towards that end. It does not pretend to be either complete or exhaustive, but merely undertakes to cover very generally the principal topics, with a somewhat more extended reference to the practical aspects of ship registry as embodied not only in the laws but in the regulations and practices which have grown up around them.
Most of the statutes which have been summarized herein except the recent Merchant Marine Act (Jones Bill) and other laws of this year will be found in the 600 page compilation of the Navigation Laws (1919) prepared with the thoroughness and accuracy to be looked for from any work issued under the direction of the present Commissioner of Navigation. It may be procured from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, at the cost of one dollar. Subject to the obvious limitations on any compilation which must necessarily include a large body of conflicting and practically obsolete statutes, the work is in every respect admirable. The volume, however, is confined to statute law, and for much of the practical information covering those branches of operation of ships involving the agency of the customs service, including the documentation of vessels, reference must be had to the Customs Regulations, the last edition of which was published under date of 1915, and which may also be secured from the Superintendent of Documents.
In addition to these two principal compilations reference should also be made to the series of Rules and Regulations of the Board of Supervising Inspectors, issued by the Steamboat Inspection Service, Department of Commerce, to the various publications of the Department covering the Rules of the Road, the International Rules, the Inland Rules, and the Pilot Rules, respectively, together with the notable series of pamphlets issued by the Department from time to time, covering such special subjects as the Measurement of Vessels, the Comparative Study of Navigation Laws of the Maritime Nations, and other similar topics. So far as the writer is aware, however, there is no volume which contains any general summary of the whole body of our navigation laws.