ACTS OF THE SECOND CONGRESS
of the
UNITED STATES,
STATUTE Ⅱ.
Chapter I.—An Act concerning the registering and recording of ships or vessels.[1]
What ships or vessels shall be deemed of the United States.Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That ships or
- ↑ The decisions of the courts of the United States on the acts relating to the registering of ships and vessels, have been:
An American registered vessel, in part transferred by grant while at sea, to an American citizen, and re-sold to her original owners on her return into port before her entry, does not, by that operation, lose her privilege as an American bottom, nor become subject to foreign duties. The United States v. Willings and Francis, 4 Cranch, 48; 2 Cond. Rep. 20.
In case of alienation to a foreigner, the privileges of an American bottom are ipso facto forfeited; but in case of alienation to a citizen, they are not forfeited until after she ought to have been registered anew; and the oath which entitles her owner to enter as an American bottom, does not require such new register. Ibid.
The register is the only document which needs be on board during a period of universal peace, in compliance with the warranty of national character. Catlett v. The Pacific Ins. Comp., Paine’s C. C. R. 594.
If one of two partners in a house of trade in the United States, obtain a register for a vessel as a vessel of the United Slates, by swearing that he, together with his partner of the city of New York, are the sole owners of the vessel, when, in fact, his partner is domicilled in England, the vessel is liable to forfeiture under the act of December 31, 1792. The Venus, 8 Cranch, 253; 3 Cond. Rep. 109.
A transfer of a vessel of the United States to a foreign subject in a foreign port, for the purpose of evading the revenue laws of a foreign country with an understanding that she is to be afterwards re-conveyed to the former owner, works a forfeiture of the vessel under the 16th section of the registering act of December 31, 1792, unless the transfer is made known in the manner prescribed by the 7th section of the act. The Margaret, 9 Wheat. 421; 5 Cond. Rep. 638.
The proviso in the 16th section of the registry act, being by way of exception from the enacting clause, need not be taken notice of in a libel filed to enforce a forfeiture. The proviso applies only to the case of a part owner. Ibid.
By the law of the United States relating to the registry and enrolling of vessels, the inaccurate recital of the certificate of registry on a bill of sale does not, as in England, avoid the sale; but merely deprives the vessel of her American character. Phillips v. Ledley, 1 Wash. C. C. R. 226.
If a registered vessel is assigned to a foreigner, she is only deprived of her American character. The sale of a licensed vessel to a foreigner is not void, but the vessel is liable to forfeiture. Ibid.
Under the act of Congress of December 31, 1792, which declares, that “if a false oath be taken to procure a register for a vessel, the vessel, or its value, shall be forfeited,” the United States have an election to proceed against the vessel as forfeited, or against the person who took the false oath, for its value. But until that election is made, the property does not vest in the United States, and the United States cannot maintain an action for money had and received against the assignees of the person who took the oath, and who became bankrupt; the assignees having sold the vessel and recovered the purchase money before the seizure of the vessel. The United States v. Grundy et al., 3 Cranch, 337: 1 Cond. Rep. 554.
Under the 27th section of the registry act of 1792, vessels which have not been previously registered, as well as those which have been previously registered, may be forfeited by a fraudulent use of the certificate of register. The Neptune, 3 Wheat. 601; 4 Cond. Rep. 351.
A citizen of the United States, resident in a foreign country, may, under the act of December 31, 1792, command a registered vessel of the United States, without her right to the payment of domestic duties being affected thereby: but under the same act he cannot be the owner of a vessel of the United States. United States v. Gillies, Peters’s C. C. R. 159.
By the licensing act of February 18, 1793, no coaster can be sold in a foreign port, unless her license
