ROTN London and India Docks Company. Goods put up at Public Sale. Dated this 1901. Warrant for (quantity of Silk piece goods) imported in the Ship A., Master B., from X., entered by C., on the (date) deliverable to D., or Assigns by endorsement hereon, subject to the undermentioned conditions. Rent commences (date) and all other charges from the date hereof. D Mark. Dock No. Stamp A LOT NOTE for the above Goods has been issued, and no delivery will be made under this Warrant prior to the expiration of the abovenamed Prompt, without the production of such Lot Nete. The Possessor of the Lot Note is entitled to this Warrant upon payment of the balance of Purchase Money, as expressed on the Lot Note, at any time before the expiration of the Prompt. After the expiration of the Prompt the Lot Note will be of no validity. Fo. Ledger Clerk. Warrant Clerk. Warehouse-Keepers' Certificates. A warehouse-keeper's certificate is a document issued by warehouse-keepers admitting that certain goods therein mentioned are in their warehouse. It is sometimes in the form of an acknowledgment that the warehouse-keepers hold the goods at the disposal of the person therein named, subject to certain conditions, and is expressed to be not transferable;* and it is sometimes in the form of a transferable warrant to deliver the goods to such person or his assigns, also subject to conditions.† We hold at your disposal in our warehouse subject to conditions as per back hereof 500 tons steel rails ex. S.S. Persia. (Signed) (Conditions endorsed.) No. 6. Warrant for Eighty bales of wool imported in S.S. Australia, Capt. Cook, from Sydney, entered by A., on the 1st June, 1901, deliverable to B. & Co. or assigns by endorsement hereon, subject to the undermentioned conditions. W. & Co. 3d. Stamp. * See Form No. 5, infra; and cf. Gunn v. Bolckow, where the wharfinger's certificate was not such an acknowledgment, post, pp. 45–47. † See Forms Nos. 6 and 7, infra. Form of Warehouse-Keepers' Warrant. 35 No. 7. Office, 56, Hope Street, Glasgow, 17th December, 1894. Warrant for ten hhds. whiskey transferred in our books and held to the order of Walter Goldsmith or assigns by endorsement hereon. Delivery orders must be signed by members of firms, or per procuration. Merchants are particularly requested in granting delivery orders to state the date to which rent is payable. Goods in bond are held subject to a general lien by the warehouse-keeper for all debts, present or future, due on any account to the warehouse-keeper by the party to whose order or in whose name the goods are lying in bond. Coopering, etc., will be performed as required, at owner's expense. Amount of duty should accompany order to clear from bond, as warehouse-keeper does not undertake to advance cash for duty. Goods are not insured by warehouse-keeper, but lie in bond at owner's risk.* * This warrant, with the conditions indorsed, is taken from the Appendix to the Cases lodged in the House of Lords in Inglis v. Robertson (1898). The conditions are not printed in the reports of that case. Dock Warrants, Delivery Orders, etc. The true nature of these documents will more clearly appear by observing the purposes and mode of their employment. If the owner of goods lodge them with a warehouseman, they remain the owner's property, and constructively in his possession, because the warehouseman holds them for him. If the owner sells them to a buyer, they become the property of the buyer, and he has the right to take possession. Upon the buyer's presenting an order from the seller requesting the warehouseman to deliver the goods to the buyer, it becomes the warehouseman's duty to give him possession. It may be that the buyer prefers the goods to remain where they are for a time, and if the warehouseman consents to hold them for him he is said to attorn to the buyer. The goods are then constructively in the possession of the buyer.* The warehouseman on his first receiving the goods makes an entry in his books, and in some cases gives a receipt to the owner when depositing the goods indicating them by marks, numbers, or description. This being merely a receipt, before the goods are removed the owner must give a delivery order. But very probably the owner may, as we have seen, desire to sell the goods while lying in the warehouse. In order to facilitate dealings with them, and to enable himself to act with greater safety, the warehouseman may, instead of a mere receipt, give a warrant, the forms of which have been already shown, promising to deliver the goods to the person named therein or to his assigns by indorsement.‡ The first warrants will be issued to the order of the importers or their assigns (provided there is no stop for freight or otherwise) upon payment of the prime rates or landing charges. Such payments must include all charges incurred to the time of passing the order or issuing the warrants excepting rent; charges accruing subsequently, and the rent, must be paid by the holders of the warrants before delivery of the goods. The owners of goods may, however, clear the rent and incidental charges to any desired date, and can then obtain fresh warrants.§ Sometimes warrants are issued subject to landing charges, and they are then called Prime Warrants." Weight or gauge notes, corresponding to the warrants are furnished when required. The weight note states the weight of the *See Mr. A. T. Carter's Article on Dock Warrants, etc., Law Quarterly Review, 1892, Vol. 8, 301. The form of receipt is given by Mr. Carter, ibid., and is practically identical with Form of Certificate, No. 5, supra. Ibid. § McCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce, ed., 1880, "Docks," p. 502. Various Mercantile Documents Distinguished. 37 goods, and the amount of the balance of the purchase money owing; and when issued, attention is called to its terms by the warrant.* The possessor of the weight note can upon complying with certain conditions and paying such balance on or before the expiration of the prompt, obtain the warrant. The prompt, as you are aware, is the limit of time, varying according to the custom of the particular trade, for payment of the purchase money. There are also documents called lot notes, which are issued to buyers in some cases where there has been a public sale by auction, and their possessor can in a similar manner obtain a warrant.† When the removal or assignment of part only of the goods is intended, the warrants should be "divided" at the dock house. If part only of the goods is removed, a new warrant for the remainder of the parcel must be taken out. If part only is assigned without delivery, reweighing, etc., new documents will be given in exchange on lodging the originals, which must be duly indorsed with directions as to the manner in which the contents are to be divided, and with the names of the parties in whose favour the warrants are to be issued. Warrants may be exchanged or divided, when desired by the holder, without assigning the goods.‡ Difference between Dock Warrants, etc., and Having gained some idea of the nature of these various documents, we shall presently see that under the Factors Act, the expression "document of title" includes for the purposes of that Act a dock warrant, delivery order, and warehouse-keeper's certificate as well as other documents,§ and a similar meaning is given to the expression in the Sale of Goods Act, 1893||; but independently of these Acts and of certain Private Acts of Parliament, which will be referred to shortly, those documents are not regarded in law as documents of title at all, but merely as tokens of an authority to receive possession." A bill of lading, on the other hand, was always regarded by the law merchant as a document "of title." This difference is no longer so important as it once was, especially to bankers, because in the large majority of cases when * See Form of Warrant, No. 3, supra. See Form of Warrant, No. 4, supra. See Mc Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce, ed., 1880, “ Docks," 499 et seq., at 502, where the rules, regulations and rates at the East and West India Docks are fully set out. § Factors Act, 1889, s. 1 (4), infra, p. 45. || 8. 62 (1). |