going vessel.

have been to a

ship or sea-
going vessel, to
bring it within
the statute;

such service to
a raft of timber
was not so

privileged ;

which such claim is made.*/2But according to the CHAP. VII.
words used in that enactment, the property to which dered to any
the salvage service was rendered within the body of ship or sea-
a county must have been a "ship or sea-going vessel," The service
to give the Admiralty jurisdiction; for where an rendered must
application was made to the Court of Admiralty to
decree a monition calling upon the owner of a certain
raft of timber to show cause why a salvage remuneration
should not be awarded for its rescue and preservation,
it was held that as the locality where the alleged service
was performed was clearly within the body of a
county, the Court of Admiralty had no jurisdiction, the
property saved being neither a ship nor a sea-going
vessel. However, by the more recent Salvage Act, but now ex-
the jurisdiction of the Admiralty in that respect is not tended to any
confined to ships, but is extended to any kind of property
saved.‡ Thus gradually was the Admiralty jurisdiction
extended in this respect, and inconveniences and occa-
sional hardships which attended the rule of locality were
remedied and prevented.

kind of pro

perty saved.

agreement has

such agreement no bar to the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court.

In cases of this description which are brought before Where an the Admiralty Court, it frequently happens that an been made for agreement has been made between the master of the the service, vessel in distress and the salvors. Such an agreement is no bar to the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court: on the contrary, such agreements are frequently pronounced for, and not allowed to be set aside unless under strong and sufficient reasons; and where there is an agreement subsisting not cancelled by consent of parties, and where there are no circumstances such as neither party could reasonably be expected to foresee, and which consequently could not have been in their contemplation

* See 3 & 4 Vict. c. 65. s. 6. in the Appendix.

† See the Raft of Timber, Steward, 2 W. Robinson's Admiralty Reports, 251.

CHAP. VII. The nature of

the service.

Cases of tow

age within the

the Court of Admiralty,

whether or not there has been an agreement between the parties.

at the time the agreement was made, the agreement will be held binding in the Admiralty Court.*

Having thus dismissed the definition as to locality, there remains to be considered what must be the jurisdiction of nature of the service to give the Admiralty Court jurisdiction. We have seen that by the new act, all demands whatsoever in the nature of towage are cognisable in that Court. Before this statute "in cases of towage, where there had been a contract between the parties, the Admiralty has no jurisdiction, it was, however, thought expedient by the legislature in all these matters, to give a remedy to the parties who might have rendered these services, whether on the high seas, or within the body of a county, by arresting a vessel, within the proper jurisdiction of this Court, and not to leave them to an action at law, as before the passing of this act."+

No jurisdiction for mere transhipment of cargo.

The nature of the property for which a claim of salvage is made, except with reference to statutes increasing the jurisdiction ‡, will make no distinction as to the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court; it is the nature of the service which is material; so that, for instance, in a question of mere transhipment of cargo, the Court of Admiralty would have no jurisdiction, unless indeed the cargo were in any degree of danger, and so as to require assistance to remove it into a place of safety; then it necessarily assumes the character of a salvage

*The Mulgrave, 2 Haggard's Admiralty Reports, 77. The Betsey, 2 W. Robinson's Admiralty Reports, 167. The True Blue, ibid., 176. See also the Repulse, 4 Notes of Cases, 141., which was a case of salvage where a written agreement had been entered into, to perform a certain specified service for a specified reward, such agreement not being alleged to be fraudulent, or to have been cancelled by mutual consent; the Court refused to interpret the agreement with reference to verbal contemporaneous conditions. Per Cur. in the Ocean, 4 Notes of Cases, 33.

See above, p. 189., The Raft of Timber.

service, and the Court of Admiralty will adjudicate CHAP. VII. it as such.*

upon

:

The Court of Admiralty cannot, in a case of salvage, allow charges for repairs which have been effected to the vessel saved. In the case of the Ranger †, a demand was made on the part of salvors for some temporary repairs effected to such vessel, and it was argued on their behalf, that that sum was so mixed up with the salvage that it could not be separated, and that they ought to be recovered together; but Lord Stowell held that the demand could not be recovered in the Admiralty Court, and decreed for the salvage service alone. Salvage reward is for benefit actually conferred in the preservation of property, not for meritorious exertions alone however meritorious the exertions of alleged salvors may be, if they are not attended with benefit to the owners, they cannot be compensated in the Court of Admiralty‡; neither has that Court any jurisdiction or power to award compensation for saving the lives of individuals: but although the Court of Admiralty has not the power to remunerate the mere saving of life, (a subject which is always left to the bounty of the individuals,) if it can be connected with the preservation of property, whether by accident or not, then the Court of Admiralty can take notice of it, and is willing to join that to the animus displayed in the first instance.§

There are several statutory enactments on this subject, but which, although they, for the most part, do not confer any additional power on the Admiralty Court in that respect, must here be brought to the notice of

the reader.

* See the Westminster, 1 W. Robinson's Admiralty Rep. 229. +2 Haggard's Admiralty Reports, 42.

Per Cur. in the India, 1 W. Robinson's Admiralty Rep. 40.

CHAP. VII.

Although by

several statutes

justices of the

have a power

to award re

saving of life, the Court of Admiralty has no such jurisdiction.

,

By a statute passed in the reign of George IV.*. by which powers were given to justices of the peace to decide certain salvage cases, it was enacted that the peace appear to said justices might determine upon remuneration to be made for services rendered to ships in distress or othermuneration for wise, or for being instrumental in saving the life or lives of any person or persons on board any ship. In a recent cause of salvage+ decided by the present learned Judge of the Admiralty Court, in which a claim was made for rescuing the master and crew, the vessel itself not having been saved, the above-mentioned enactment was referred to by counsel for the salvors in support of their claim; but it was held by the Court, first, that, upon general principles, a mere attempt to save the vessel and cargo, however meritorious that attempt may be, or whatever degree of risk or danger may have been incurred, if unsuccessful, can never be considered in the Admiralty Court as furnishing any title to a salvage reward. Salvage reward is for benefit actually conferred, not for a service attempted to be rendered.

1

Secondly, as to the successful rescue of the master and crew, who were on board the vessel at the time. The learned Judge was clearly of opinion that, according to general principles, and to the established practice of the Court of Admiralty, it had no authority to direct a salvage award upon the ground alone that the lives of persons on board a vessel in distress have been preserved by the successful exertions of the parties suing, the jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty being founded upon a proceeding against property saved, and that there was no principle upon which owners could be made answerable for the mere saving of life. It was also held that the eighth section of the act of parliament referred to, conferred no new jurisdiction upon the

* 1 & 2 Geo. 4. c. 75. s. 8., repealed by the new salvage act. † Zephyrus, 1 W. Robinson's Admiralty Reports, 329.

Court of Admiralty, referring, as it did, not to any CHAP. VII. power to be exercised by the Court of Admiralty; but was intended solely to give additional power to the magistrates at the outports to award salvage. "Whether," said the learned Judge, "it gives authority to the magistrates, or the commissioners of the Cinque Ports, to entertain questions of salvage under the circumstances of this case, it is unnecessary for me to determine. If it does confer on them this authority, it may incidentally, by way of appeal, confer upon this Court also a power to interfere. In the first instance, however, it is clear, in my judgment, that the act in question does not bestow any additional authority upon the Court, which the Court was not entitled to exercise before the passing of the act.” *

By the new Wreck and Salvage Act†, repealing the statute above mentioned, it is enacted that every person who shall act, or be employed in any way whatsoever in the saving or preserving of any ship or vessel in distress, or of any part of the cargo thereof, or of the life of any person on board the same, or of any wreck of the sea, or of any goods, jetsam, flotsam, lagan, or derelict, or of any anchors, cables, tackle, stores, or materials which may have belonged to any ship or vessel, whether the said ship or vessel shall have been in distress or otherwise, and whether such person shall have so acted at the request of, or on application by any person in authority, or by the master or owner of any ship or vessel, or otherwise, shall, within fourteen days after the service so performed, or within fourteen days after the owner or any other person shall have established his

* The Queen Mab, decided by Sir J. Nicholl, and reported in 3 Haggard's Admiralty Reports, 242., not a binding decision upon this point. See the remarks of Dr. Lushington at p. 333., 1st volume of W. Robinson's Admiralty Reports.