OUR NAVIGATION AND MERCANTILE MARINE LAWS CONSIDERED WITH A VIEW TO THEIR GENERAL REVISION AND CONSOLIDATION; ALSO, AN ENQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPAL MARITIME INSTITUTIONS. BY W. S. LINDSAY. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. ΤΟ THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE, This Work IS VERY RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. THIS work was determined upon, in the early part of the present winter, by various circumstances which were often brought prominently under my notice, viz: 1st. The excess of maritime statutes, and " amended Acts;" and the incessant tinkering of the latter. These laws, I have found, do not guide, but on the contrary, confound and confuse. 2dly. The numerous burdens and restrictions left upon British shipping, which ought to have been entirely swept away, when that interest was deprived of all its peculiar privileges. And, 3dly. Though the Laws which regulate British ships have undergone great changes, the fees and charges levied upon them remain almost the same, and Institutions which exercise a great influence over them are unreformed, and in most instances similar to what they were during the past century. In a word, while the shipowner's position and his ability to pay is entirely altered, |