Limitation of Liability Hearings

LORD CAMPBELL'S ACT.

Exhibit B.
57 and 58 Vict. C. 60.

"503. (1) The owners of a ship, British or foreign, shall not, where all or any of the following occurrences take place without their actual fault or privity (that is to say):

(a) Where any loss of life or personal injury is caused to any person being car­ried in the ship;

(b) Where any damage or loss is caused to any goods, merchandise, or other things, whatsoever on board the ship;

(c) Where any loss of life or personal injury is caused to any person carried in any other vessel by reason of the improper navigation of the ship;

(d) Where any loss or damage is caused to any other vessel, or to any goods, merchandise or other things whatsoever on board any other vessel, by reason of the improper navigation of the ship;

be liable to damages beyond the following amounts (that is to say) :

(i) in respect of loss of life or personal injury, either along or together with loss of or damage to vessels, goods, merchandise, or other things, an aggregate amount not exceeding fifteen pounds for each ton of their ship's tonnage; and

(ii) in respect of loss of, or damage to, vessels, goods, merchandise, or other things, whether there be in addition loss of life or personal injury or not, an aggre­gate amount not exceeding eight pounds for each ton of their ship's tonnage.

(2) For the purpose of this section:

(a) (As amended by Chapter 48, Merchant Shipping Act, 1906, section 69.) The tonnage of a steamship shall be her registered tonnage with the addition of any engine room space deducted for the purpose of ascertaining that tonnage; and the tonnage of a sailing ship shall be her registered tonnage;

Provided that, there shall not be included in such tonnage any space occupied by seamen or apprentices and appropriated to their use which is certified under the regula­tions scheduled to this act with regard thereto.

(b) Where a foreign ship has beep or can be measured according to British law, her tonnage, as ascertained by that measurement shall for the purpose of this section, be deemed to be her tonnage.

(c) Where a foreign ship has not been and cannot be measured according to British law, the Surveyor General of ships in the United Kingdom, or the chief meas­uring officer of any British possession abroad, shall, on receiving from or by the Court hearing the case, in which the tonnage of the ship is in question, such evidence concerning the dimensions of the ship as it may be practical to furnish, give a certifi­cate under his hand staling what would in his opinion have been the tonnage of the ship if she had been duly measured according to British law, and the tonnage so stated in that certificate shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed the tonnage of the ship.

(3) The owner of every sea-going ship or share therein shall be liable in respect of every such loss of life, personal injury, loss of 'or damage to vessels, goods, mer­chandise, or things aforesaid arising on distinct occasions to the same extent as if another loss, injury, or damage had arisen.

"504. Where any liability is alleged to have been incurred by the owner of a British or foreign ship in respect of loss of life, personal injury, or loss of or damage to vessels or goods, and several claims are made or apprehended in respect of that liability then the owner may apply in England and Ireland to the high court, or in Scotland to the court of session, or in a British possession" to any competent court, and that court may determine the amount of the owner's liability and may distribute that amount ratably among the several claimants, and may stay any proceedings, pending in any other court in relation to the same matter, and may proceed in such manner and subject to such regulations as to making persons interested parties to the proceeding, and as to the exclusion of any claimants who do not come in within a cer­tain time, and as to requiring security from the owner, and as to payment of any costs, as the court thinks just.

"505. All sums paid for or on account of any loss or damage in respect whereof the liability of owners is limited under the provisions of this part, of the act, and all costs incurred in relation thereto, may be brought into account among part owners of the same ship in the same manner as money disbursed for the use thereof.

"506. An insurance effected against the happening without the owner's actual fault or privity, of any or all of the events in respect of which the liability of owners is limited under this part of this act shall not be invalid by reason of the nature of the risk.

"507. In any proceeding under this part of this act against the owner of a ship or share therein, with respect to loss of life, the passenger lists under the third part of this act shall be received as evidence that the person upon whose death proceed­ings are taken under this part, of this act was a passenger on board the ship at the time of death.

"508. Nothing in this part of this act shall be construed to lessen or take away any liability to which any master or seaman, being also owner or part owner of the ship to which he belongs, is subject in his capacity of master or seaman, or to ex­tend to any British ship which is not recognized as a British ship within the meaning of this act.

"509. This part of this act shall, unless the context otherwise requires, extend to the whole of her majesty's dominions."

63 & 64 Vict. c. 32. An Act to amend the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, with re­spect to the Liability of Ship-owners and others. (6th August, 1900.)

"1. The limitation of the liability of the owners of any ship set by section five hundred and three of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, in respect of loss of or damage to vessels, goods, merchandise, or other things, shall extend and apply to all cases where (without their actual fault or privity) any loss or damage is caused to prop­erty or rights of any kind, whether on land or on water, or whether fixed or move­able, by reason of the improper navigation or management of the ship."

2. (1) " * * * * * * *

"(2) For the purpose of this section the tonnage of ships shall be ascertained as pro- vided by section five hundred and three, sub-section two, of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and the register of any ship shall be sufficient evidence that the gross ton- nage and the deductions therefrom and the registered tonnage are as therein stated.'