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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0049 and id is 1 raw text is: 98 THE KING V. THE LONDON COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS IM. & S. 262.
[262] THE KING against THE COLLECTOR AND COMPTROLLER OF THE CUSTOMS IN
LONDON. Thursday, May 6th, 1813. The purchaser of a ship which appears by
the sentence of condemnation in the Vice-Admiralty Court abroad to have been
taken and condemned for being engaged in the slave trade, is not entitled to
register such ship at the Custom-House under the 26 G. 3, c. 60, as the owner
of a ship taken and condemned as lawful prize, although he produce a certificate
- from the Judge of the Court abroad certifying that the ship was condemned as
lawful prize.
This came on upon a rule nisi obtained in the last term for a mandamus to the
collector and comptroller of the Customs, commanding them to register the ship
Merced, and to grant a certificate of such registry, pursuant to the stat. 26 G. 3,
c. 60 (a)'. The rule was obtained on behalf of the purchasers of the said ship, who,
it was contended, had exhibited at the Custom-House the proper documents required
by the Act to entitle them to registry. The document upon which the question
turned was a certificate from the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court at Sierra Leone,
certifying, that it appeared by the records of the said Court that the ship ' Merced'
was condemned in the said Court as good and lawful prize to our Sovereign Lord the
King, seized and taken by His Majesty's garrison at Senegal. To obviate the effect
of this certificate, a copy of the decretal part of the sentence of condemnation, trans-
mitted by the registrar of the Court at Sierra Leone to the [263] registrar of the High
Court of Admiralty, was set forth in an affidavit in answer to the rule, (and it was
admitted on the other side that it was a true copy of that part of the sentence,) which
recited that the said ship was at the time of the seizure thereof on the high seas
unlawfully equipt and refitted, as had been set forth against her by the claimant,
and proceeded therefore to pronounce, decree, and declare that the said ship, her
boats, guns, tackle, apparel, and furniture, were rightly and duly taken and seized,
and that the said ship was at the time of the seizure thereof on the high seas, as
far as appears to the Court, illegally equipt or refitted, in that the said ship being
fitted out, manned, and employed for the prosecuting or carrying on the African
slave trade, did procure and receive from a subject of His Majesty resident at Goree,
certain goods, wares, or merchandize, fit and necessary to the prosecuting and carrying
on the said trade, against the form of the statutes in that case made and provided;
and that the said ship being so unlawfully equipt and refitted as such, ought to be
accounted and reputed liable to confiscation, and to be adjudged and condemned as
good and lawful prize to our lord the King ; and that the said ship, her boats, guns,
tackle, apparel, and furniture, be adjudged and condemned as good and lawful prize
to our lord the King, seized and taken by His Majesty's garrison of Senegal, &c.
The Attorney-General and Dampier shewed cause against the rule, and contended
that the Court ought not to interfere in a cas e where, notwithstanding the certificate
of the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court abroad, certify-[264]-ing that the ship was
condemned as lawful prize, it appeared from the sentence of condemnation itself that
she was condemned on account of a breach of the laws prohibiting the slave trade;
which made her liable to confiscation (a)2, and not properly the object of condemna-
tion as prize within the meaning of the Registry Acts. The Vice-Admiralty Court
abroad cannot, by introducing an incorrect term into their certificate, convert that
(a)' By s. 3 it is enacted, that all and every ship and vessel having a deck, or
being of the burthen of 15 tons or upwards, belonging to any of His Majesty's
subjects, &c. shall be registered in manner thereinafter mentioned, and that the
person or persons claiming property therein shall cause the same to be registered,
and shall obtain a certificate of such registry from the collector and comptroller of
His Majesty's Customs, &c. : and by s. 25 it is further enacted, that the owner or
owners of all such ships or vessels as shall be taken by any of His Majesty's ships or
vessels of war, or by any private or other ship or vessel, and condemned as lawful
prize in any Court of Admiralty, shall upon registering such ship or vessel before he
or they shall obtain such certificate, produce to the proper officer of His Majesty's
Customs a certificate of the condemnation of such ship or vessel under the hand
and seal of the Judge of the Court in which such ship or vessel shall have been
condemned, &c.
(a)2 46 G. 3, c. 52.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0049&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)