mortgaged ship or share available as security for the mortgage debt, the mortgagee shall not be deemed to be the owner of the ship or share. The effect of this provision is probably that as long as the mortgagor retains possession of the ship, the mortgagee is not deemed to be the owner of a beneficial interest, but that if the mortgagee takes possession and himself sails the ship, he becomes in law the owner of such an interest. Thus it seems that a foreigner can be a mortgagee of a British ship, but that if he takes possession he has no right to sail her under the British flag.

Law of the United States. The law of the United States on the subject under discussion was, as might be expected, modelled on the provisions of our Navigation Acts. The first Statute which dealt with the registration. of ships under the flag of the United States was an Act of 1789. That Act was repealed by one of 1792, which has been embodied in the Revised Statutes of the United States passed by Congress in the session of 1873-4 (Rev. Stat. Title xlviii.). Under the Act of 1792, only ships registered pursuant to law, or qualified to carry on the coasting or fishing trade, are deemed to be vessels of the United States; and in order to be entitled to registration or to enrolment as a vessel engaged in the fishing or coasting trade, a ship must belong wholly to citizens of the United States 1 and must have been either (1) built within the United States,2 or (2) captured in war by citizens of the United States, or (3) adjudged to be forfeited for a breach of the law of the United States (Rev. Stat. ss. 4131, 4132, 4312).

It is further provided by the Act of 1792, as amended by Acts of 1884 (c. 121) and 1896 (c. 225), that no ship can enjoy the privileges of a United States vessel longer than it continues to be wholly owned by citizens of the United States or by a corporation created under the laws of any of the States, and to be commanded by a citizen of the United States. Further, all the officers of United States vessels who have charge of a watch must be citizens. Such officers include pilots, and, as regards steamers, the chief engineer and each assistant engineer who has charge of a watch. In cases, however, where on a foreign voyage a ship has been deprived of the services of an officer other than the master, an alien may fill his place until the return of the ship to her home port.

The law used until recently to restrict the right of non-resident citizens to own ships. A vessel lost the benefits of registry if owned in whole or in part by a natural-born citizen who usually resided in a foreign country,

The owner, to obtain registry, must declare on oath that no foreigner is "directly or indirectly, by way of trust, confidence, or otherwise" interested in the vessel, or the profits or issues thereof.

2 Under an Act of 1852, however, the Secretary of the Treasury may issue a register for a foreign-built ship wrecked in the United States, and purchased and repaired by a citizen, provided that the repairs are equal to three-fourths of the cost of the vessel when repaired (Rev. Stat. s. 4136). Sometimes a special Act is passed to allow the registration of a particular foreign-built ship.

unless he was a consul of the United States, or an agent for, or a partner in, a house of trade consisting of citizens actually carrying on business in the United States. In the case of a naturalised citizen, the same results followed if he resided for more than a year in his country of origin, or for more than two years in any other foreign country, unless he was a consul or other public agent of the United States. Both these provisions were repealed by a Law of 1897 (c. 389, s. 16).

The Act of 1896, c. 255, expressly recognises the right of corporations created under the laws of any of the States to own ships. The registration of ships owned by corporations is regulated by an Act of 1825. The register of a vessel owned by an incorporated company is made out in the name of the president or secretary, and must be renewed on his ceasing to hold the office. The register, it is expressly declared, is not affected by sales of shares or stock in the company. Before the register is granted, the president or secretary must swear to the ownership of the vessel by the company, without specifying the names of the members; and his oath is sufficient without requiring the oath of any other person interested or concerned in the vessel.1

Law of the German Empire.-The German law respecting the qualification to own German ships was until quite recently contained in a Law of the North German Confederation of the 25th October, 1867, which in 1871 became the law of the German Empire. It was amended by a Law of the 23rd December, 1888, with the object of making the clause dealing with its application to corporations more precise, and has now been practically re-enacted, with some slight modifications, by a Law of the 22nd June, 1899. Art. 2 of the Law of 1899 declares that only those merchant ships are entitled to carry the German flag which are the exclusive property of German subjects. Then follows a provision with reference to the application of this article to partnerships and companies, for the right understanding of which a short explanation of the German law on the subject of trading associations (which in many respects is similar to that of other Continental States) is necessary.

A partnership (offene Handelsgesellschaft) consists, as in this country, of members jointly and severally liable for the whole of the partnership debts (Commercial Code, Arts. 105, 124, 128). It must be registered, and all the partners must join in a declaration before the Court within whose jurisdiction its place of business is, stating (1) their full names, professions, and places of abode; (2) the firm-name of the partnership and the place where it carries on business; (3) the date when the partnership was formed (ibid., Arts. 106, 123). A Kommanditgesellschaft (in French, Société en commandite-a term for which there is no English equivalent, but which it will be convenient to call a commandite company) is an association or

1 Rev. Stat. ss. 4137-9.

partnership carrying on business under a trade-name, consisting of two classes of members :

:

(1) Sleeping partners or members whose liability is limited to the amount of the capital subscribed by them (in French, commanditaires), who are not allowed to take any active part in the management of the association.

(2) Personally liable members-persönlich haftende Gesellschafter (in French, commandités)—who alone have the right to carry on the business of the association, and whose liability is unlimited (ibid., Arts. 161 et seq.).

The declaration made for the purpose of registration (Art. 106 sup.) must state the names of the sleeping partners and the amount of capital subscribed by them, as well as the names of the active members; but the names of the sleeping partners and the amount invested by them are not published.

There are two kinds of trading companies, whose capital is divided into shares. The Aktiengesellschaft (literally, "company in shares ") is a limited liability company (Commercial Code, Art. 178). The Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien (in French, société en commandite par action) consists, like the ordinary Kommanditgesellschaft, of two classes of members-those who assume unlimited liability to the creditors of the company, and those whose liability is limited to the amount of their shares (ibid., Art. 320). Both kinds of companies must be registered in the trade register of the district in which they have their place of business (ibid., Arts. 195, 320, 323).

Art. 2. of the Law of 1899, after declaring that German ships must be wholly owned by German subjects, deals, as has been said, with the question of ships owned by partnerships and corporations. Ordinary partnerships (offene Gesellschaften) and commandite companies (Kommanditgesellschaften) are deemed to be German subjects, when the personally responsible members are all subjects. Other trading associations, registered associations (eingetragene Genossenschaften), and legal persons in general must, in order to be deemed German subjects, have their place of business in the German Empire. This is, therefore, all that is required in the case of a limited liability company (Aktiengesellschaft); but in the case of a commandite company in shares (Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien) there is an additional proviso that all the personally liable members shall be German subjects.

Art. 7. requires that the entry of the ship in the register of ships shall, among other particulars, specify the names of the owners. In the case of partnerships, the name and description of each member must be entered. In that of a commandite company, whether divided into shares or not, only the names of the personally liable partners or members need be specified. When a limited liability company is an owner or part-owner, the names of the members need not be entered.

By Art. 3, if the part-proprietor of a German ship loses his German nationality, or if a share in a ship becomes vested in a foreigner otherwise than by a sale, the ship retains the right to use the German flag for a year; and within six months a sale of the unqualified owner's interest may be ordered on the application of a majority of the co-owners.

Art. 503 of the Commercial Code forbids the alienation by a part-owner of his interest in the ship without the consent of his co-owners, when this involves the loss of the right to carry the German flag.

Law of France. The existing law of France as to the conditions under which a ship is entitled to be registered as a French ship is contained partly in the Law of the 21st September, 1792, partly in the Law of the 9th June, 1845. The Law of 1792, which was evidently based on the English Navigation Laws, required (1) that the ship should be wholly owned by French citizens; and (2) that the captain, the officers, and at least three-fourths of the crew should be French. The former provision has been relaxed by the Law of 1845, which only requires that the ship shall be owned as to a moiety by Frenchmen; the latter provision still remains in force. The Law of 1792 also required the ship to have been built in France; but this provision was repealed in 1866.

A French ship loses its nationality when refitted or repaired abroad at a cost exceeding six francs per ton, unless the necessity for the excess of expenditure has been certified by a French consul or by two merchants of French nationality (Law of the 27th Vendémiaire, Year VIII.).2

The French law does not deal expressly with the question of the ownership of vessels by companies. The subject has attracted some attention, and is discussed by MM. Lyon Caen and Renault in their elaborate treatise on French commercial law. Their view is that a French company is entitled to own a French ship, whatever proportion of its shares be held by foreigners, on the ground that the national character of a company depends solely on its domicil and is not affected by the nationality of its shareholders. This right, in their opinion, even belongs to a société en nom collectif (which is practically the same as a partnership in this country), when it carries on its business in France, though all the members of the firm be foreigners.3

The question of the registration of ships belonging to limited companies (sociétés anonymes) was in 1887 referred by the Minister of Finance to the Conseil d'Etat, whose opinion was delivered on the 5th April (see, for the text, Revue de Droit Maritime, iii. 247). In their opinion it was

A few exceptions have been made to this Law for climatic considerations-e.g., in the case of the engine-room staffs of mail-boats trading to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

2 Cf. 8 & 9 Vict., c. 89, s. 7.

3 See Lyon Caen and Renault, Traité de Droit Commercial, vol. ii. ss. 1162-9; vol. v. s. 57.

impossible to attribute to a limited company the character of a French citizen ("il est impossible de reconnaître à une société anonyme la qualité de citoyen français"). Until the matter was dealt with by the Legislature, they considered that the authorities must act on their own responsibility as regards registration, and that they were entitled to refuse it to companies whose composition did not appear to them to satisfy the policy of the law ("sociétés dont la constitution ne lui paraitrait pas répondre aux vœux du législateur sur la matière"). They added that it is impossible to state precisely in what cases the authorities should consider that the French interests which it is the object of the law to safeguard have been protected ("il n'est pas possible de formuler, dans un text précis, les conditions auxquelles l'administration pourrait reconnaître qu'il est donné satisfaction aux intérêts nationaux que ladite législation a pour but de sauvegarder ").

A Law of the 10th July, 1885, declares that the sale to foreigners of a French ship on which there is a mortgage is invalid.

Law of Italy.-Art. 39 of the Mercantile Marine Code declares that no vessel is to be deemed Italian or entitled to use the Italian flag unless furnished with a certificate of registry (atto di nazionalità). To obtain a certificate of registry, a ship must belong as to two-thirds to Italian citizens, or to foreigners who have been domiciled or resident 1 in Italy for at least five years (Art. 40).

A partnership (società in nome collettivo) or a commandite company (società in accomandita), even when its offices are situated abroad, is deemed to be Italian if any one of the class of members who are jointly and severally liable (socio solidale) is an Italian citizen (Art. 40). A partnership or company of either of these kinds which is composed of foreigners, but is established or has its principal office (sede) in Italy, is on the same footing as a foreigner domiciled in the kingdom. A limited liability company (società anonima) is considered to be Italian if its principal office is in Italy and its general meetings are held there (ibid.). The branch establishments of foreign. companies which are authorised by the Government to carry on business in Italy are on the same footing as strangers domiciled or residing there, provided that they have a representative there furnished with full powers. to represent them (mandate generalo) (ibid.).

When foreigners who have not been domiciled or resident in Italy for five years have by any means acquired the ownership of more than onethird in an Italian ship, they must within a year transfer the excess to some qualified person. Failing such transfer, the captain of the port of the ship's registry will sell the excess by public auction. Similarly, an Italian who loses his nationality, as by naturalisation elsewhere, or an Italian woman

A person's civil domicil is where he has the principal seat (sede) of his affairs and interests; his residence is where he habitually lives (Civil Code, Art. 16). 2 See ante, German Law: Kommanditgesellschaft.