If Person detaining Certifi cate have absconded, Ship may be registered as in case of lost Certificate. Ship altered in certain Manner de novo. aforesaid Detainer, Refusal, and Conviction, to the Person SHIP ALTERED. as she or to any XXVIII. AND be it further enacted, That if any Ship to be registered or Vessel, after she shall have been registered pursuant to the Directions of this Act, shall in any Manner whatever be altered, so as not to correspond with all the Particulars contained in the Certificate of her Registry, in such Case such Ship or Vessel shall be registered de novo, in manner herein-before required, as soon returns to the Port to which she belongs, other Port (2) which shall be in the same Part of the United Kingdom, or in the same Colony, Plantation, Island, or Territory, as the said Port shall be in, ON Failure whereof such Ship or Vessel shall to all Intents and Purposes be considered and deemed and taken to be a Ship or Vessel not duly registered. Vessels condemned as Prize, or for PRIZE. XXIX. AND be it further enacted, That the Owner or Owners of all such Ships and Vessels as shall be (1) See § 26. (2) The Certificate of Survey, § 16, and the separate Bond of the Master, $21, may be transmitted from the Port where the Ship lies to the Port of Registry. Breach of Laws against Slave Trade, Certifi taken by any of His Majesty's Ships or Vessels of War, or by any private or other Ship or Vessel, and condemned as lawful Prize in any Court of Admiralty, or of such Ships cate of Condemor Vessels as shall be condemned in any competent Court nation to be as forfeited for Breach of the Laws for the Prevention of produced. the Slave Trade, shall, upon registering such Ship or Vessel, before he or they shall obtain such Certificate as aforesaid, - produce to (1) the Collector and Comptroller of His Majesty's Customs a Certificate of the Condemnation of such Ship or Vessel, under the Hand and Seal of the Judge of the Court in which such Ship or Vessel shall have been condemned (which Certificate such Judge is hereby authorized and required to grant) (2), and also a true and exact Account in Writing of all the Particulars contained in the Certificate herein-before set forth, to be made and subscribed by One or more skilful Person or Persons (2), to be appointed by the Court, then and there (3) to survey such Ship or Vessel, AND shall also make Oath before the Collector and Comptroller, that such Ship or Vessel is the same Vessel which is mentioned in the Certificate of the Judge aforesaid. - not to be registered at Guernsey, Jersey, or Man. XXX. PROVIDED always, and be it further enacted, Prize Vessels That no Ship or Vessel which shall be taken and condemned as Prize or Forfeiture as aforesaid, shall be registered in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, or the Isle of Man, although belonging to His Majesty's Subjects residing in those Islands, or in some one or other of them; but the same shall be registered either at Southampton, Where to be Weymouth, Exeter, Plymouth, Falmouth, Liverpool, or Whitehaven, by the Collector and Comptroller at such Ports respectively (4), who are hereby authorized and required to register such Ship or Vessel, and to grant a Certificate thereof in the Form and under the Regulations and Restrictions in this Act contained. registered. (1) This Certificate of Condemnation is analogous to the Builder's Certificate, § 25, and furnishes no legal Evidence of Property. The first registered Owners are only known by the Oath of those who attend to register the Ship. See § 14. (2) See Penalty for false Certificates, § 49. (3) This Survey must be made by some Person at the Time and Place of Condemnation, with reference to the Jurisdiction of the Court, and its Possession of the Vessel. (4) This applies only to the First Registry after Condemnation. Transfers of In terest to be Sale. BILL OF SALE. XXXI. AND be it further enacted, That when and so often as the Property in any Ship or Vessel, or any made by Bill of Part thereof, belonging to any of His Majesty's Subjects, shall after Registry thereof be sold to any other or others of His Majesty's Subjects, the same shall be transferred by Bill of Sale (1), or other Instrument in Writing, containing a Recital of the Certificate of Registry of such Ship or Vessel, or the principal Contents thereof, otherwise such Transfer shall not be valid or effectual for any Purpose whatever, either in Law or in Equity: Reciting Certificate of Regis try. Bill of Sale not void by Error of Recital, &c. Property in divided into or Shares. PROVIDED always, that no Bill of Sale shall be deemed void by reason of any Error in such Recital, — or by the Recital of any former Certificate (2) of Registry instead of the existing Certificate, - provided the Identity of the Ship or Vessel therein intended be effectually proved thereby. DIVISION IN SHARES. XXXII. AND be it further enacted, That the Property in every Ship or Vessel, of which there are more Sixty-four Parts than One Owner, shall be taken and considered to be divided in Sixty-four Parts or Shares, and the Proportion held by each Owner shall be described in the Registry as being a certain Number of Sixty-fourth Parts or Shares ; AND that no Person shall be entitled to be registered as an Owner of any Ship or Vessel in respect of any Proportion of such Ship or Vessel which shall not be an integral Sixty-fourth (3) Part or Share of the same; AND upon the First Registry of any Ship or Vessel, the Owner or Owners who shall take and subscribe the Oath required by this Act, before Registry be made, shall also declare upon Oath (4) the - Number Oath upon First state the Num ber of such Shares held by each Owner. (1) See § 37, &c. - (2) Vessels may be registered de novo without the Knowledge of an absent Owner, and who may have no Copy of their Registry, except what is contained in the Bill of Sale to himself, but the Identity of the Vessel may be equally proved by it. See Form of Certificate, § 2. (3) The Effect of Fractions must be that the whole Ship will not appear to be accounted for in the Registry; and as it will not be known in whom the unregistered Fractions may be, the Bills of Sale must be produced again upon the future Transfer of such Fractions. (4) See Oath for Registry, § 14. See Manner of setting forth Shares on Back of Certificate, § 2. - Smaller Portions may be conveyed with out Stamp. of such Parts or Shares then held by cach Owner, and the same shall be so registered accordingly: PROVIDED always, that if it shall at any Time happen that the Property of any Owner or Owners in any Ship or Vessel cannot be reduced, by Division, into any Number of-integral Sixty-fourth Parts or Shares, it shall and may be lawful for the Owner or Owners of such-fractional Parts as shall be over and above such Number of integral Sixty-fourth Parts or Shares into which such Property in any Ship or Vessel can be reduced by Division, to transfer the same one to another, or jointly, to any new Owner, by Memorandum upon their respective Bills of Sale, or by fresh Bill of Sale without such Transfer being liable to any Stamp Duty: PROVIDED also, that the Right of such Owner or Owners to such fractional Parts shall not be affected by reason of the same not having been registered: also, that it shall be lawful for any Number of such Owners, named and described in such Registry, being Partners in any House or Copartnership actually carry- proportionate ing on Trade in any Part of His Majesty's Dominions to hold any Ship or Vessel, or any Share or Shares of any Ship or Vessel, in the Name of such House or - Copartnership, as joint Owners thereof, without distinguishing the proportionate Interest of each of such Owners, and that such Ship or Vessel, or the Share or Shares thereof so held in Copartnership, shall be deemed and taken to be-Partnership Property to all Intents and Purposes, and shall be governed by the same Rules, both in Law and Equity, as relate to and govern all other -Partnership Property in any other Goods, Chattels, and Effects whatsoever. PROVIDED Partners may hold Ships or Shares without distinguishing Interest of each Only Thirty two Persons to be Owners of any Ship at one XXXIII. AND be it further enacted, That no greater Number than Thirty two Persons shall be entitled to be legal Owners at one and the same Time of any Ship or Vessel, as Tenants in Common (1), or to be regis- Time. tered as such : PROVIDED always, that nothing Not to affect the herein contained shall affect the equitable Title of Minors, equitable Title Heirs, Legatees, Creditors, or others, exceeding that of Heirs, &c. (1) Any Number of Partners holding as such (see § 32) would be as one Tenant in Common; so also would any Number of Joint Tenants, holding the same Shares together, be as one Tenant in Common. See Statement of Shares on Back of Certificate of Registry, § 2. Shares. Joint Stock Trustees may apply to have Registry made. Shares to be registered on Registry de novo under this Act. 6o GEO. 4. Number, duly represented by or holding from any of the Persons within the said Number, registered as legal Owners of any Share or Shares of such Ship or Vessel: PROVIDED also, that if it shall be proved to the Satisfaction of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs, that any Number of Persons have associated themselves as a Joint Stock Company, for the Purpose of owning any Ship or Vessel, or any Number of Ships or Vessels, as the joint Property of such Company, — and that such Company have duly elected or appointed any Number, not less than Three of the Members of the same, to be — Trustees of the Property in such Ship or Vessel, or Ships or Vessels so owned by such Company, it shall be lawful for such Trustees, or any Three of them, with the Permission of such Commissioners, to take the Oath (1) required by this Act, before Registry be made, - except that instead of stating therein the Names and Descriptions of the other Owners, they shall state the Name and Description of the Company (2) to which such Ship or Vessel, or Ships or Vessels, shall in such Manner belong. XXXIV. AND be it further enacted, That whenever any Ship or Vessel - which had been registered before the said Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, and shall not have been registered de novo since that Day, and before the Commencement of this Act-shall be registered de novo, the Number of such Shares held by each Owner shall be registered as far as the same be practicable, and to that Intent the Owner or Owners who shall take and subscribe the Oath required by this Act before Registry be made, shall produce the Bills of Sale or other Titles of themselves and of the other Owners, in order that the Number of such-Shares held by each of them may be ascertained and registered accordingly; AND if the Registry of such Ship or Vessel then in force shall be the First Registry (3), and the Shares of any of the Owners shall (1) See § 14. (2) This does not relieve the Trustees from the Part of the Oath which goes to the Exclusion of Foreigners, &c.; and therefore in order that the Trustees may be qualified to take the Oath, it may be advisable for such Companies by their Rules to incapacitate Foreigners and Persons who have taken the Oath of Allegiance to a Foreign State, from holding any Share in their Stocks. (3) See Oath § 14; and First Purchaser according to Builder's Certificate, § 25. |