HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0504 and id is 1 raw text is: 298 THE BODDINGTON '8 2 HAGO. 42.
of the maritime law, recognised in all books of authority. Abbot on Shipping, 5th
ed., p. 472.
Court.-The principle is undoubted, and too important to be lightly treated.
It has been generally recognised in all books on maritime law,* [422] and particularly
in the King's Bench, in the cases cited in Lord Tenterden's Treatise on Shipping;
and it is the duty of this Court to uphold it, if sufficient grounds are laid. The
Court, therefore, thinks that those parts of the allegation which plead the custom
of the trade as to the responsibility of the wharfinger, with respect to goods shipped
under his care, the shipping, in this instance, in his absence, and without proper
attention, and the anxiety expressed by the mate to conceal what had been done,
and his subsequent declarations to one of the crew, may be strictly pertinent ; and
if the case is proved to that effect, it may support the defence of the owners, and
may entitle them to withhold the wages in compensation for a loss so occasioned.
The allegation was directed to be reformed.
BODDINOTON'S -(NOYES). November 20, 1832.-The report of the registrar
and merchants-disallowing, as irregular and unusual where there is a bottomry
premium, a charge of insurance on money advanced to the master on bottomry,
and forming part of the amount of the bond,-confirmed ; bottomry bonds,
given by the master, binding the owners only for sums necessary for repairs,
and for the furtherance of the voyage, and maritime interest being only allowed
as a compensation for maritime risk.
This question arose upon a bottomry bond, given at Calcutta, in which an insur-
ance of 3 per cent., purported to be guaranteed by the bond, had been disallowed
by the registrar and merchants. The case came on in objection to the report, upon
act of petition and affidavits.
The King's Advocate for the bondholders.
Dodson, contra.
Judgment-Sir Christopher Robinson : This is a question relating to the charge of
insurance, on a sum of [423] money advanced on bottomry, and forming part of the
amount of the bond. The registrar and merchants have disallowed it, and the case
now comes on in objection to their report. The ship had met with an accident
in the Hoogley river, which obliged the master to put back to Calcutta for repair;
and a sum of money was borrowed on bottomry to discharge these expenses. The
bond was given for £2218, and there is no dispute as to the principal sum ; but it
appears from the accounts, that a sum of £86 was not applied to the use of the ship,
but was expended, or allowed on account with the lender, as a premium of insurance
at 3 per cent. on the amount of the bond. No policies are produced, and it does not
appear distinctly whether the master or the bondholders actually insured, or whether
the bondholders were to stand their own insurance on that allowance.
The master, in his affidavit, states that it was agreed between him and the bond-
holders, that if the premium should be no more than 12 per cent. per annum, he
(deponent) would pay the expense attending the insurance of the ship to the amount
of the bond ; that the sum for insurance, in consequence of his being without funds,
was also embodied in the bottomry bond, as appears in the account. I do not
exactly understand what the master means by embodied in the bond, since the
instrument itself describes the whole money to have been expended in necessary
and indispensable repairs and supplies, which is a very accurate definition of the
proper application of money so borrowed; and, as to its appearing in the accounts,
they cannot properly be identified with the bond, though they relate to it. On the
trans-[424]-action so explained, the sum charged for insurance has been disallowed
as irregular and unusual, when there is a bottomry premium. And the report
adds further, that it is disallowed expressly on account of irregularity, as a fixed
premium of 12 per cent. for the voyage would have been deemed a reasonable rate,
and have come to more than the sum now charged.
The report is objected to on the part of the bondholders, and the Court is asked
to allow this sum of 3 per cent., in addition to the premium stipulated in the bond;
* See Laws of Oleron, art. 10 ; Consolato du Mare, c. 247. Also Articles of Wisbuy;
and Les Us et Coutumes de la Mer, p. 150, in which loss by the negligent use of the
ship's ropes is incidentally noticed.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0504&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)