Page:Halsbury Laws of England v1 1907.pdf/332

 Admiralty.

110 Sect. 4

Limitation of Liability. Evidence.

232. Except in cases where there is hkelihood of there being a where it is alleged that the plaintiffs were privy to the collision and therefore disentitled to relief (c), the evidence is usually given on affidavit. The affidavit of the owner verifying the allegations in the statement of claim and having annexed conflict of testimony, as

to it, in the case of a British ship, a certified copy of the register in force at the time of collision, and some similar official evidence of tonnage in the case of a foreign ship, is generally required (d) and an affidavit is also required from the master or some other person on

board that there has been no loss of life, if the limitation of £S per ton only is sought. The affidavits need not be printed unless the Court or a judge so orders (e). Decree.

233. On the case for the plaintiffs being sufficiently proved at the hearing the Court pronounces that the plaintiffs are entitled to limited liability according to the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and, if limitation of liability is claimed in consequence of a collision, that in respect of loss of life or personal injury either alone or together with damage to vessels, goods, merchandise, or other things occasioned by the improper navigation of their vessel on the occasion of the collision in question in the suit, that the plaintiffs are answerable in damages to an amount not exceeding £ such sum being at the rate of £15 per ton of the tonnage of the (/), and that in respect of claims for damage to vessels, goods, merchandise, or other things alone (g), the plaintiffs are answerable in damages to an amount not exceeding £ of the said sum of £ being at the rate of £S for each ton etc. The decree also orders that upon payment into Court of the amount to which liability is limited, or upon giving the necessary bail (li), with interest at 4 per cent, from the date of the collision until payment into Court, and upon payment of the costs (if any) of actions pending in respect of the collision in the Admiralty Division, all proceedings in such It is also ordered that advertisements be actions shall be stayed. inserted at intervals in certain specified newspapers intimating that if persons having claims under the decree do not come in and enter their claims in the Admiralty Eegistry within a specified time, they will be excluded from sharing in the limited amount. The time for bringing in such claims is three months from the date of the decree, unless, for special reasons, a shorter period is limited. All claims brought in or thereafter to be brought in are by the ,

,

Time

for

bringing in claims.

See The Cricket (1882), 5 Asp. M. L.-C. 33. See The Rosslyn (1904), 10 Asp. M. L. C. 24; The Cordilleras, [1904]

(c)

{d)

P. 90. (e)

E.

S.

C, Ord.

38,

r.

30. ^

(/) As to tlie tonnage on which the limited amount is calculated, which is different in the case of steamers and sailing vessels, see the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Yict. c. 60), s. 503; Merchant Shipping Act, 1906 (6 Edw. 7, c. 48), s. 69; The Brunei, [1900] P. 24; The Cathay (1900), 69 L. J. (p.) 89. (g) Por instance, passengers' luggage {The Stella (1899), 8 Asp. M. L. C. 605). (A) If it is clear that the claims for loss of life before the Court at the hearing do not reach the limit of liability, the Court will sometimes grant a decree on the plaintiffs giving bail for an amount fixed by the Court and undertaking to give bail if required for the balance of their statutory liability. See The Inventor (1905), 10 Asp. M. L. 0. 99.