Section XIII.-PROCEEDINGS UNDER LUNACY ACTS. Under the Lunacy Acts the Sheriff grants the warrants necessary for the commitment of lunatics to asylums, but those proceedings are entirely statutory, and it would be a mere repetition to give here more than a reference to the statutes 20 and 21 Vict. c. 71, and 29 and 30 Vict. c. 51, under which they are chiefly regulated. The forms of application, which give every necessary information, are printed by the Lunacy Board, and can in general be obtained from any of the Inspectors of the Poor. Section XIV.-REGULATION OF MARCH FENCES. The regulation of march fences belongs to the Judge Ordinary. If there be no fence between conterminous proprietors, the Sheriff may, on the application of either of them, appoint a suitable fence to be erected at their joint expense; and if the old boundary be irregular, the Sheriff has power to straighten the march by taking, as far as may be, equal portions from each property and adding them to the other.(t) Where the lands are entailed, their exchange must be fortified by an excambion under the Montgomery Act.(u) The regulation as to building and repairing fences is applied only to lands suitable for being inclosed, and not to extensive moor lands. It is inapplicable where there is a (t) 1661, c. 41 (ratified by 1685, (u) Supra, sect. VIII. art 4. c. 39), and 1669, c. 17. sufficient natural fence. To prevent hardship it is also not applied to lands of less than five or six acres in extent, or to any case where the expense would be out of proportion to the obtainable benefit. The regulation as to the straightening of a march cannot be carried out if there is a dispute as to the existing line. In that case the process must be sisted till the dispute be settled by declarator in the Court of Session; and then, when the actual boundary is ascertained, the Sheriff may proceed to adjust it.(v) Processes for the regulation of fences commence by petition, and are conducted in the ordinary manner, the only peculiarity being, that in straightening marches the Sheriff is required by the Act 1669, c. 19, to visit and inspect the ground. He cannot delegate this duty even with the parties' consent, but he may take such assistance from men of skill, in addition, as he may think expedient. (x) Section XV.-MARITIME CASES. 1. Ordinary Jurisdiction. 3. Recovery of Salvage. 1. Ordinary Jurisdiction.-Maritime causes comprehend questions of charter-parties, freights, salvages, wrecks, bottomries, policies of insurance, and, in general, all contracts concerning the loading or unloading of ships, and all actions for the delivery of goods sent on shipboard, or for (v) See Strang v. Stewart, 31 March 1864, 2 Macph. 1015; affd. 15 Feb. 1866, 11 Macph. (H. L.) 5; and case cited in next note. (x) Lord Advocate v. Sinclair, 26 Nov. 1872, 11 Macph. 137. recovering their value.(y) These causes, when arising within the district, and in the navigable rivers, ports, harbours, creeks, shores, and anchoring grounds belonging to it, may be brought before the Sheriff. The jurisdiction extends over foreigners and persons residing out of Scotland, provided the defender, on any legal ground of jurisdiction, is amenable to the jurisdiction of the Sheriff before whom the cause may be raised. (z) This is held to cover the power of founding jurisdiction against foreigners by arrestment jurisdictionis fundandæ causa. (a) For causes not exceeding the value of £25, the jurisdiction is privative. When counties are separated by a river, firth, or estuary, the Sheriff of each county has jurisdiction over the whole intervening space occupied by water; but if the defender reside in either of the counties, the cause must be brought in the county where he lives. There is a power in maritime cases of remitting causes from one Sheriff Court to another ob contingentiam, or for other sufficient reason. In all other respects maritime causes are conducted like ordinary actions. (b) 2. Summary Recovery of Seamen's Wages.-Under the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, any seaman or appren (y) Ersk. 1. 3. 33. As to salvage, see infra, art. 3. (2) 11 Geo. IV. and 1 Will. IV. c. 69, 22; and 1 and 2 Vict. c. 119, 21. "Section 22 of 1 Will. IV. c. 69, having in express terms given jurisdiction to the Sheriff in maritime causes against persons residing furth of Scotland, the subsequent declaratory enactment in 21 of 1 and 2 Vict. c. 119 cannot be held to take away that jurisdiction, but only to regulate it."-Per Lord Barcaple in Price v. Owen, cited Law Courts Com., 1868, Evidence, p. 413. (a) Bruhn v. Grunwaldt, 20 Jan. 1864, 2 Macph. 335. The sum arrested may be small provided it be not illusory. A debt of £1, 8s. 6d. was held enough in an action for £600; Shaw v. Dow, 2 Feb. 1869 7 Macph. 449. (b) A. S. 10 July 1839, 161. tice, or person authorised by him, may sue in a summary manner for any wages due to him, not exceeding £50 in amount. The master of a ship has the same remedy. The action may be brought before the Sheriff either of the place where the voyage terminated, or of the place where the person on whom the claim is made resides. The Sheriff's order is final. (c) The complaint (which is in the form of a petition) does not require to recite the clauses of the Merchant Shipping Act on which it is founded. It is sufficient if they be specified or referred to. The cause of complaint or action, and the remedy sought, must be set forth shortly. The complaint may contain a prayer for a warrant to arrest on the dependence. On being presented to the Sheriff-Clerk, he issues a warrant to cite the defender, and witnesses and havers, as well as (when craved) a warrant to arrest. When the day of trial comes, the parties are heard viva voce. It is specially directed that there be no written pleadings, and that the evidence be not written down-no record being kept except the complaint and the decree pronounced. The decree may be enforced by arrestment and poinding, and when for more than £8, 6s. 8d. by imprisonment, like any other civil decree. (d) The use of this summary mode, in preference to the ordinary modes of recovering wages, seems optional. Suits for wages under £50 cannot be brought in the Court of Session unless-(1) the owner is adjudged bankrupt or declared insolvent; or (2) unless the ship is under arrest or is sold by the authority of the Court of Session; or (3) unless any justices acting under the Merchant (c) 17 and 18 Vict. c. 104, 22 188 and 191. (d) Ib. 2 531 to 539, inclusive, and 541, 542, and 543. Shipping Act refer it to the Court of Session, or unless neither the owner nor master is or resides within twenty miles of the place where the seaman or apprentice is discharged or put ashore. (e) In England it is held that this provision must be pleaded.(g) It will be observed that the statute leaves untouched the incompetency of making a claim for wages not exceeding £25 in value, (h) and therefore that it practically affects only claims between £25 and £50 in amount. 3. Recovery of Salvage.—Where the amount of salvage claimed does not exceed £200 the Merchant Shipping Acts prescribe the mode of its recovery. The Act of 1854 made it necessary to refer the dispute to the arbitration of two justices, (i) but the Amending Act of 1862 gives the claimant the option of referring it to the arbitration of the Sheriff.(k) If the sum in dispute exceeds £50 there is an appeal from the Sheriff's decision to the Court of Session, but otherwise the Sheriff's decision is final. (1) The claim being a proceeding under the Merchant Shipping Act, must be brought and conducted in a summary form, in the way prescribed by the Act, and which has been described in the preceding article. (n) The proceedings are subject, however, to certain special regulations. The claim may begin with a reference instead of a petition or complaint. It must be brought, in case of wreck, before. the Sheriff resident at or near where it is found; in case of (e) 17 and 18 Vict. c. 104, 2 189. (g) Maclachlan's Law of Merchant Shipping (2d ed.) p. 241, and authorities there cited. (h) Supra, art. 1. (i) 17 and 18 Vict. c. 104, § 460. (k) 25 and 26 Vict. c. 63, ? 49 (6, 7, and 8). (7) 1854 Act, ? 464. (n) 1854 Act, 531; 1862 Act, 2 49 (8). |