1. OF THE OWNERS OF MERCHANT SHIPS;
II. OF THE PERSONS EMPLOYED IN THE

NAVIGATION THEREOF;

II. OF THE CARRIAGE OF GOODS THEREIN,
IV. OF THE WAGES OF MERCHANT SEAMEN.

1040

BY CHARLES ABBOTT,

OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER AT LAW.

WITH THE COPIQUS ANNOTATIONS OF

JOSEPH STORY,

One of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States.

THIRD AMERICAN EDITION, IMPROVED ÁY A DIGEST OF AMERICAN
DECISIONS SUBSEQUENT TO JUDGE STORY'S NOTES.

EXETER, N. H.

PUBLISHED BY GEORGE LAMSON.

J. J. WILLIAMS PRINTER.

L.S. BE

District of New-Hampshire to wit:

E IT REMEMBERED, that on the thirtieth Day of July, in the fortysixth Year of the Independence of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, George Lamson of the said District, has deposited in this Office the title of a Book, the Right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the Words following, to wit: A Treatise of the Law relative to Merchant Ships and Seamen: in four parts; 1. Of the owners of Merchant Ships; II. Of the persons employed in the Navigation thereof; III. Of the carriage of goods therein; IV. Of the Wages of Merchant Seamen. By Charles Abbott, of the Inner Temple, Barrister at Law. With the copious Annotations of Joseph Story, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. Third American edition, improved by a Digest of American Decisions, subsequent to Judge Story's Notes.

In Conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, intitled, “An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an Act intitled, An Act supplementary to an Act intitled, An act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical, and other Prints."

Clerk of the district of

WILLIAM CLAGGETT, NEW-HAMPSHIRE.

L 3983

JUL 6 1931

PREFACE.

CONSIDERING the great great importance of every branch of law relating to Maritime Commerce, it is a matter of surprise that no treatise on the subjects discussed in the following sheets should have been written by any member of the profession of the law for a very long period of years. It is now more than a century since the first publication of the work of Molloy, the only English Lawyer, who has written on these matters. During that period the law of the country has grown up with its commerce; many interesting points have been argued by able and eloquent Advocates, and decided by learned and enlightened Judges; and some very important regulations have been introduced by the Legislature : but very little of useful addition has been made to the collection of Molloy, either by the subsequent editors of his treatise, or by the other authors, who have written on the same topics. Yet the absence of a general and established code of Maritime Law, which almost every other European nation possesses, seems to render a collection of the principal points of that law peculiarly_necessary both for English merchants and English lawyers. On the subject of Insurance, this has been already effected. In the present treatise an attempt is made to supply the defect in some other branches. And in order to render the work