a greater influence. It grew out of the necessities of navigation and commerce by sea and remains substantially uniform in spite of forms of government, racial habits and local innovations. In its essence, it is less susceptible of statutory modification than the common law and careless legislation has had only local effects, diverting business into other channels but ineffective to change the substance of the law. Maritime commerce is naturally free and the wisest commercial governments are those which regulate it least. Its freedom is a direct implication from the doctrine of the natural freedom of the seas. The extent to which governments may profitably regulate it without impairing its usefulness or diverting the current to other shores may be found in the history of this law. Underlying principles are the same whether ships move by sail or steam or electricity or are great or small. There have been large vessels before the twentieth century and an equivalent commerce. The law has remained the same. Men pay damages every day in some of our ports for overlooking rules that were current in Roman times and needless litigation is carried through appellate courts because of professional and judicial failures adequately to investigate the underlying principles of the maritime law.

The opportunities for the student are large and inviting. If this country is to do its part in the commerce of the future, its own maritime laws must be restated and reformed. This means not only the formal statutes and department regulations but also the great mass of judicial opinions of more than a hundred years. All are intertwined with each other and the result is chaotic. The fault has not been in the underlying principles of the maritime law but in legislation and interpretation. Our peculiar system has left the final word in the majority of decisions to judges trained in the common law and not professionally acquainted with any other. The result calls for the treatment which Justinian administered to the incongruous compilations, statutes and reports of his time. The student, either of business, history or law, who will apply himself to an investigation of the law of the sea and ascertain its simple fundamentals will not only have an interesting and profitable occupation but also be in a position to contribute substantially to the public welfare.

REFERENCES FOR GENERAL READING

The American Admiralty, Chapters I-XII, E. C. Benedict. Albany, N. Y., 1910; Banks & Company.

Maritime Law, Chapters I-II, Henry Flanders. Boston, 1852; Little, Brown & Co.

Commentaries on American Law (13th ed.), Lectures XLV-XLIX, James Kent. Boston, 1884.

Marine Insurance, Introduction 1-55, John Duer. New York, 1845; Voorhies.

Introduction historique à l'étude du droit commercial maritime, Arthur Desjardins. Paris, 1890; A. Durand et Pedone-Lauriel. Maritime Law, Albert Saunders. London, 1901; Sweet Maxwell, Ltd.

The Rhodian Sea-Law, Walter Ashburner. Oxford, 1909; The Clarendon Press.

History of Admiralty Jurisdiction, R. H. Dana. 5 American Law Review 581.

CHAPTER II

TITLE AND TRANSFER

1. How Title Acquired. Title to a ship is acquired in the same ways as other personal property, by construction, purchase, gift or exchange. It may pass by delivery, without any bill of sale or other written document. This method, however, is neither advisable nor practicable where the value is substantial or active business is contemplated.1

2. Registration and Regulation.- The United States, like other commercial countries, provides a complete system for the registry and regulation of all ships entitled to the privileges of American vessels. These laws do not require registry or enrollment unless such privileges are desired. The owner may acquire and dispose of his boat without reference to them, but, until it is registered or enrolled, it is not a vessel of the United States and cannot engage in any trade.

It is therefore usual to have all matters in relation to the title and transfer of a ship in writing and according to customary forms. This is a safe and salutary rule.

3. Shipbuilding Contracts.-The builder of a ship is the first owner unless there is a special contract under which he merely performs labor upon materials which the other party supplies. This is unusual. The shipbuilder generally constructs the vessel upon an order or contract, which, if properly drawn, provides for

1 Rev. St., § 4170, is as follows:

"Whenever any vessel, which has been registered, is, in whole or in part, sold or transferred to a citizen of the United States, or is altered in form or burden, by being lengthened or built upon, or from one denomination to another, by the mode or method of rigging or fitting, the vessel shall be registered anew, by her former name, according to the directions hereinbefore contained, otherwise she shall cease to be deemed a vessel of the United States. The former certificate of registry of such vessel shall be delivered up to the collector to whom application for such new registry is made, at the time that the same is made, to be by him transmitted to the Register of the Treasury who shall cause the same to be canceled. In every such case of sale or transfer there shall be some instrument of writing, in the nature of a bill of sale, which shall recite at length, the certificate; otherwise the vessel shall be incapable of being so registered anew." This is discussed in § 10, infra, this chapter.

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the time when the title shall pass away from him. Such contracts should be explicit in their details, especially as to the terms of payment and state of the title as the work goes on. Otherwise, the title may remain in the builder until delivery; if so, and the vessel be injured or destroyed, it will be his loss; or, if he becomes bankrupt before delivery, the vessel may be appropriated by his general creditors in spite of the fact that the purchase price may have been largely paid.

In the United States v. Ansonia Co., 218 U. S. 452, a shipbuilder in Richmond, Va., became insolvent while engaged in constructing three vessels for the government; one war dredge for the War Department; one a revenue cutter for the Treasury Department; and the third a cruiser for the Navy. In each instance the shipbuilder was to furnish the labor and materials and perform the work and was to receive partial payments from time to time as the construction progressed. In the case of the dredge, the contract provided that the parts of the vessel as its construction progressed should become the sole property of the United States, although it was further provided that the government might subsequently reject defective work or parts and might even reject the completed vessel, should it fail to pass inspection. The contracts for the revenue cutter and cruiser, on the other hand, contained no provision for the passing of title before completion, but did provide that the government should have a superior lien upon the vessels for all payments made on account. The Supreme Court (Day, J.) said:

It is undoubtedly true that the mere facts that the vessel is to be paid for in installments as the work progresses, and to be built under the superintendence of a government inspector, who had the power to reject or approve the materials, will not of themselves work the transfer of the title of a vessel to be constructed, in advance of its completion. But it is equally well settled that if the contract is such as to clearly express the intention of the parties that the builder shall sell and the purchaser shall buy the ship before its completion, and at different stages of its progress, and this purpose is expressed in the words of the contract, it is binding and effectual in law to pass the title.

The court further held that the lien reserved in the contracts for the revenue cutter and cruiser was not superior to the liens of material men under the laws of Virginia.

4. Not Within Admiralty Jurisdiction.- Until the vessel is launched and completed she is not within the jurisdiction of the maritime law but, like any other piece of construction, is subject to the local laws of the State wherein the work is carried on. The Admiralty courts of the United States decline jurisdiction of all contracts for the building of a ship.

5. Enrollment and Registration. When the ship is completed, she should be registered or enrolled as an American vessel. These words are synonymous; vessels in the foreign trade are "registered" and those in the domestic or coastwise trade are enrolled "; (The Mohawk, 3 Wall. 566; Huus v. Co., 182 U. S. 392, 395). Vessels of less than twenty tons and more than five tons are neither registered or enrolled but should be licensed.

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6. Ships Entitled to. This proceeding is accomplished at the office of the collector of customs of the district in which the home port of the vessel may be (Rev. St. §4141, Morgan v. Parham, 16 Wall. 471). The home port is the port at or nearest which the owner, or managing owner, resides. The registration, enrollment and licensing of vessels is fully covered by Regulations originally promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury under the navigation laws of the United States, which may now be obtained in revised form by application to the Department of Commerce at Washington.

Ships entitled to such registration or enrollment are:

1. Vessels built in the United States and owned by a citizen. 2. Vessels captured in war and condemned as prize, and owned by a citizen.

3. Vessels forfeited and sold for breach of the laws of the United States and purchased and owned by a citizen.

4. Seagoing vessels whether steam or sail which have been certified by the Steamboat Inspection Service as safe to carry dry and perishable cargo, wherever built, which are to engage only in trade with foreign countries, being wholly owned by citizens of the United States or corporations organized and chartered therein, the president and managing directors and the holders of the control of which shall be citizens of the United States; also vessels answering the foregoing description which are to trade with the Islands of Guam and Tutuila until February 1, 1922, and thereafter as governed by Sec. 21 of the Merchant Marine Act (see Appendix).

5. Vessels wrecked in the United States, and purchased and repaired by a citizen, if the cost of the repairs is equal to three times the appraised value of the wreck as salved.