The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-12-18
LIMITED LIABILITY
As IT TAPPLIES TO VESSEL oWN-
 FRS.

An Interesting and Informing Articl
 i'm the Yale Law Journal by Attorney
 James ID. DeweII, Jr.--A Matter ol
 Importance to Many in This Region
 Lawyers, vessel owners and others ir
 this region interested in maritime mat, ters will be interested in the following
 article by James D. Dewell, Jr., the
 Tell-known Admiralty lawyer, which appears in the December number of the Yale Law Journal. In this article MT
 Dewell shows with skill and clearness
 how the law for limitation of the lia- {. bility of vessel owners can be and is { applied. He makes the matter very plain, as he might be expected to do from his thorough knowledge of the law and his large experience in 1t. ' Following is the article in full:
 The common law, as well as the civil I law, made no distinction between the { liability of an owner of a vessel for the
 negligent acts of his master and crew { and the liability of an owner of house for the negligent acts of his servants. X But more than two centuries ago, z France and Holland adopted laws in { the interest of commerce, limiting the X liability of vessel owners (not only for torts, but for contracts of the mastery < to the value of the ship and freight While it is frequently maintained that ' limited liability is one of the doctrines 4 of the general maritime law, it is now
 accepted as the best authority that a from these laws of France and Holland z the doctrine of limited liability of yes \ sel owners has sprung.
 It was many years later, 1734, before 2 England did anything to put her vessel owners on equal footing with the vessel { owners of Continental Europe. While <. at the present time an English vessel 'pwner may limit his liability in certain cases, he cannot limit below a certain
 sum, being required, in each instance where he is entitled to limit, to pay in so many pounds ton, based upon the Rtonnage of the vessel, before he can
 avail himself of the benefits of the act, < He cannot limit at all for contracts en- ! gtered into by his master as his agent,
 England never having adopted the laws
 Of Continental Europe in this respect To promote commerce, induce ship
 building and put our vessels on an equal footing with vessels of other na
 tions, Congress adopted, in 1851, certain laws known as An act to limit the lia- bility of ship owners and for other purposes" By this act Congress con ferred upon the United States District court jurisdiction in all cases brought to limit the liability of ship owners. The parts of the act more particularly within the purview of this article are now sections 42S2 and 42SS of the Gen eral Statutes.
 Sec. 42S2. Loss by Fire:
 No owner of any vessel shall be lia- | ble to answer for or make good to any person any loss or damage which may happen to any merchandise whatever, which shall be shipped, taken in, or put on board any such vessel, by reason or by means of any fire happening to or on board the vessel, unless such fire is caused by the design or neglect of such owner.
 Sec 42S3. Liability of Owner Not to Exceed His Interest:
 The liability of the owner of any ves- sel, for any embezzlement, loss or de- | struction, by any person, of any prop ' erty, goods or merchandise, shipped or put on board of such vessel, or for any JOSS, damage or injury by collision, or Tor any act, matter or thing loss, dam age or forfeiture done, occasioned or incurred. without the privity or knowl- cage or such owner or owners, shall in no case exceed the amount or value of me interest. of such owner in such ves- SCI, and her freight then pending.
 It has often impressed me as strange that vessel owners permit their cases, growing out of accidents on vessels to De tried in a common law forum before a Jury, when in almost every instance such forum is incompetent to give them complete justice. The only way I san account for it is that the law of Admiralty has been but meagerly taught In the universities and conse- quently lawyers, no matter how great thelr ability to try cases, have, because or thls lack of training, not selected the proper forum and in many instances have consequently got their clients into expensive and prolonged litigation. The courts in the different states are to-day filled with cases that have been because of accidents happen ng on vessels. These courts, undoubt-