[16] It may be inferred, however, that, if it had appeared that the requisition necessarily rendered the performance of the entire contract impossible, the charter would have been held to be dissolved. In this case, it was the owner, who saw a chance to make more money, who wanted the charter annulled; not the charterer whose adventure was being frustrated in a manner advantageous to him. It is a little difficult to suppose that the court would have required the charterers to go on paying charter hire, had they been unwilling to do so, for a vessel of which the government had deprived them of the use. Still, that conclusion is deducible from the language of the several lords who wrote opinions in the case.
CHAPTER VIII
LIABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS
1. Liabilities of Ship.—
As elsewhere observed, the ship resembles a person in maritime law and has a corresponding liability. In general, she is responsible for every benefit received and every wrong done as well as for every breach of governmental regulations. Particular instances may furnish exceptions to this general rule, but they will be only occasional exceptions. The ship should be considered as a juristic person and her liabilities like those of an ordinary corporation, quite apart from those of the natural persons in charge of her operations or interested in her ownership. The liability of a vessel arising out of contract is discussed elsewhere. The principle governing her liability for torts is laid down in the brig Malek Adhel, 2 How. (U. S.) 210:
The ship is also by the general maritime law held responsible for the torts and misconduct of the master and crew thereof, whether arising from negligence or a willful disregard of duty; as, for example, in case of collision and other wrongs done upon the high seas or elsewhere within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, upon the general policy of that law, which looks to the instrument itself, used as the means of the mischief, as the best and surest pledge for the compensation and indemnity to the injured party.
The liability ordinarily extends to the entire ship and all the appurtenances.[17] It may include the freight money and collision damage; it does not include the insurance; and it may be diminished by statutes like the Harter Act or by special agreements in the contract of carriage or similar stipulations.
2. Liabilities of Owner.—
While it has been said that the liability of the ship and of the owner were convertible terms, the statement is hardly accurate in many cases. The owner may have so chartered the ship as to release him from personal responsibility; he may be wrongfully deprived of her possession; his liability may be limited by law or special agreement to her value. In other words, the ship is frequently liable and the owner is not; and the owner can usually confine his liability to the value of the ship and otherwise go free from her obligations.