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H. SWEET, 3, CHANCERY LANE, FLEET STREET,

Law Bookseller and Publisher.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY C. ROWORTH AND SONS,

BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR.

PREFACE

TO THE THIRD EDITION.

SINCE the publication of the second Edition of this Work in 1861, the Statute Law relating to Merchant Shipping has undergone further changes; the Admiralty Court Act, 1861 (24 Vict. c. 10), the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 63), and the Passengers Act Amendment Act, 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 51), not to mention other Statutes of minor importance, have all been added to the written Law on this subject. Under the Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862, new and important regulations have also been issued for preventing collisions at sea, and these rules have been adopted by the Government of France, and that of several other countries.

Many cases have also been decided on the earlier and recent Statutes, and upon the questions dealt with in this Work. In embodying in the present Edition the provisions of the modern Acts, and the decisions which have occurred since the last Edition was published, the Authors have adhered as closely as possible to the. original plan of the Book; and have retained such references only to the earlier Statutes as they have deemed necessary to a clear understanding of the Law as it now exists. It would have been easy to swell the bulk of this Work by the addition of all the later cases, whether important or not; but care has been taken to insert only those modern decisions which have appeared

to illustrate and define the Law, and to avoid incumbering the text with cases of trifling importance.

The ancient Maritime Laws of Europe are cited from the text, and referred to according to the divisions adopted by M. Pardessus, in his Collection de Lois Maritimes. Paris, 1828.

The Editions of the Text Books by English and American writers which are referred to are as follows:

Molloy de Jure Maritimo, 9th Edit. London. 1769.
Beawes' Lex Mercatoria, by Chitty. London. 1813.
Kent's Commentaries on American Law. New York.

1858.

Smith's Mercantile Law, 6th Edit., by Dowdeswell.
London. 1859.

Holt on Shipping, 2nd Edit. London. 1824.

Abbott on Shipping, 10th Edit., by Serjt. Shee. London.

1856.

American Edition, by Story and Per

kins. Boston. 1846.

Wilkinson on Shipping. London. 1843.

Park on Insurance, 7th Edit. London. 1817.
Phillips on Insurance, 3rd Edit. Boston. 1853.

Duer on Insurance. New York.
New York.

Arnould on Insurance, 2nd Edit.

1845. (Vol. 2, 1846.) London. 1857.

Benecké's Principles of Indemnity in Marine Assurance.

London. 1824.

Stevens on Average, 5th Edit. London. 1835.

The Index and Table of Cases have been compiled by Mr. C. Warner Lewis, of the Northern Circuit, to whom the Authors are also indebted for very material assistance in preparing the text.

The Authors desire also to acknowledge the kindness shown to them by the Authors of "Pritchard's Admiralty Digest," who allowed them to see the sheets of the new Edition of that Work as it was passing through the press, and thus spared them much labour.

PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION.

THE object of the Writers of this Book has been to provide a Compendium of the Law relating to Merchant Shipping in as small a compass as is consistent with the importance and extent of the subject. The plan adopted has been to confine the text of the Work to the Law of England as it now exists, whether it depend upon statutory enactment or upon the decisions of the Courts of this country; reserving for the notes such remarks upon our own earlier law, and such notices of the laws of foreign countries, as have appeared directly to explain the principles of the existing law.

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