Means employed by the compilers to perfect the new Code. M. Gorneau, Legras, and Vital-Roux, to publish the motives which guided them in their labours. They have given an explanatory analysis of the observations made by the tribunals, councils of commerce, lawyers, and merchants, on the plan of the Code which had been published, and have themselves proposed the corrections which they think necessary to perfect the work. This excellent production, in which the three compilers have been less influenced by self-love, than a regard to the public good, has produced the revision, which they themselves had the liberality to propose, of the Code framed by the members of the commission. By this happy effect, the work will now appear as the result of the united wishes of the whole nation for whom they undertook it.-May this wise revision, so impatiently expected, be soon submitted to the government for its sanction, that the interests of the French empire may be consolidated on a permanent basis! ARTICLE XV. Of the Laws of England. § 1. ENGLAND has not yet thought proper to frame a system of maritime laws. This is owing, perhaps, to the difficulty the English have to encounter, in procuring any bill containing new regulations. to be passed into a law. They prefer, therefore, to translate into their language the Jugement d'Oleron, and the Us et Coutumes de la mer, by Cleirac, which has Maritime laws of England. passed through four editions, since 1661, rather than to propose to the government the formation of a new Code of commercial laws, though the nation admits the want of such a Code.(361) 2. There exists, therefore, no English act of maritime legislation, except the great merchant-charter(362)* of Edward I-the articles agreed to at (361) Laws of the admiralty of Great-Britain. (362) "Thus, in mercantile questions, such as bills of exchange and the like; in all marine causes, relating to freight, average, demurrage, insurances, bottomry, and others of a similar nature; the law merchant, which is a branch of the law of nations, is regularly and constantly adhered to. So too, in all disputes relating to prizes, to shipwrecks, to hostages, and ransom-bills, there is no other rule of decision but this great universal law, collected from history and usage, and such writers of all nations and languages. as are generally approved and allowed of.”—Blackstone's Commentaries, Vol. IV. p. 67.** ** In the paragraph from which the quotation is made in the above note, Blackstone sufficiently explains why their maritime laws have not been established by any statute, or act of parliament. In arbitrary goverments, like those of France, the law of nations is enforced by the royal power. In England it forms a part of the law of the land. Thus, the lex mercatoria, or law-merchant, as it is called, is adopted by the English common law, and forms a part of the law of the land, as much as any statute relative to the disposition of estates, or for the punishment of crimes. This law-merchant is grounded on the usages and customs of merchants, and those ge neral rules which prevail among commercial men in all countries. Though the English courts do not allow foreign laws, or writers to have any binding force or authority, they refer to the civil law, the Rhodian law, the Consolato del Mare, to the Jugement d'Oleron, to Cleirac, Pothier, and other The maritime laws of England, Queensborough, by Edward the third ;t the ancient statutes relative to the powers of the admiralty, and * Our author, no doubt, means the statute de mercatoribus, passed the 11th of Edward I, and re-enacted in the 13th year of his reign, authorising a certain recognisance, or security to be taken by merchants for their debts, and hence called statute merchant; by virtue of which, contrary to the principles of feudal law, the body of the debtor might be imprisoned, and not only his goods be taken in satisfaction of the debt, but his lands also might be delivered to the creditor to be held by him, until out of the rents and profits his debt should be satisfied.-Reeves's History of the English Law, Vol. II. p. 158.-Black. Com. Vol. IV. p. 426. In the Magna Charta of king John, chapter 31, are the following remarkable words: Omnes mercatores habeant salvum et securum exire de Anglia, et venirc in Angliam, et morari et ire per Angliam, tam per terram quam per aquam, ad emendum et vendendum, sine omnibus malis, toltis per antiquas et rectas consuetudines preterquam in tempore gwerre, et si sint de terra contra nos gweriva, etsi tales inveniantur in terra nostra in principio gwerre attachientur sine dampno corporum et rerum donec sciatur a nobis vel capitati justiciaro nostro, quomodo mercatores terre nostre tractentur, qui tunc invenientur in terra contra nos gwerriva, et si nostri salvi sint, ibi alii salci sint in terra nostra. Blackstone's edition of Magna Charta....T. + See Anderson's History of Commerce, Vol. I. p. 352, Dublin edition, Svo, who cites Vol. IV. 361, of Rymer's Federa....T. writers, as containing evidence of the law of merchants, established by universal consent and usage, or by decisions grounded on principles of the law of nature and nations, and which may serve to guide their judgments upon points not settled by the adjudications of their own courts. Where doubts arise, the questions are tried by a jury, which may, and usually does consist of merchants, whose verdict, if not contrary to any statute, or the previous de. cisions of the court on the same point, settles the law. (Black. Vol. I. page The British navigation act, and other marine regulations. the wardens of the Cinque-ports (363) the famous act of navigation, framed by Cromwell, but which did not become a law until the 12th year of the reign of Charles IId, the 23d September, 1660; some acts of parliament to regulate marine assurances, assurances on lives, and against fire; others, relative to the cus (363) The five Cinque-Ports are Hastings, Dover, Sandwich, Romney, and Hythe, to which Rye, Winchelsea, and Seaford have been annexed. These towns are situated on the coast opposite to France, and are specially charged to guard against an invasion; they have a particular governor, called the lord warden of the cinque-ports. King John granted them many privileges and courts. of their own, on condition of their keeping a certain number of vessels always in readiness to obey his orders.-Blackstone's Commentaries, III. p. 79. 273.) By a regular series of judicial determinations, during the last fifty years, the law of assurance, for example, which forms so important a branch of the law-merchant at the present day, has been erected into a system scarcely inferior to any to be found in the Codes of any other country. These decisions have been collected and well arranged by Park, and Marshall. The law relative to ships, their owners, and persons employed in their navigation, charter-parties, freight, seamen's wages, salvage, &c. has been admirably digested by Charles Abbott. The enlightened candour and liberality of the English courts of judicature in adopting sound principles of reason and good faith in matters of commerce, to be found in the laws received in all commercial countries, cannot be too much praised and admired. The consequence, however, of this practice is, that the English system of maritime jurisprudence has been much slower in its for mation, and less perfect in the whole, than if the parliament of England, like Louis XIVth, had collected the accumulated wisdom of all ages, and countries, on marine affairs, and digested the same into an act of parlia. ment. The different modes of proceeding are evidently owing to the dif ferent forms of government, and of judicature established in the two coun. tries.... .T. Acts of parliament, and royal instructions as to commerce, &c. toms, to the augmentation of the marine, and particularly that of 1777, concerning merchant vessels, having letters of marque. Besides these acts of parliament, the king is authorised by law to give particular instructions to the commanders of ships of war, and privateers, relative to the vessels of foreign nations.(364) There are also some particular regulations as to maritime police, and concerning the maritime courts. These courts are, the high court of admiralty, in which the Lord high admiral, or his deputy, decides on maritime affairs, and captures made at sea, in time of war; and the Court of Delegates, nominated by special commission, and to which an appeal lies from the admiralty courts.† (364) The general instructions of 1776 may be seen in Hennings Samlung, Von Staats Schristen, tom. 2, page 19. The particular instructions given in 1793 and 1794, are in the collection of Mr. Martens. *Those of 1794 and 1798 may be seen at the end of the third volume of Reports of Cases in the High Court of Admiralty, by C. Robinson....T. There appears to have been no lord high admiral since the accesion of the house of Hanover. The king now holds that office, though in a manner distinguishable from his regal character, and it is executed by commissioners. A judge of the high court of admiralty is now appointed by a commission under the great seal. It may be said to consist of two courts, possessing distinct jurisdiction, and held by distinct commissions, though usually given. to one and the same person. One is called the instance court, proceeding according to the civil law, the laws of Oleron, and other generally received collections of maritime law, the customs of ad |