A. to B. for the use of C., C. may maintain his action against B. They there fore ordered judgment to be entered for the plaintiffs, for the amount of the letter of credit and interest.

MARINE INSURANCE.-JETTISON OF GOODS CARRIED ON DECK.

In the Court of Queen's Bench, London, Dec. 19, 1840. Milward vs. Hibbert. -This was an action brought upon a time policy of assurance, effected upon the Kilkenny steamer, from November 28th, 1837, to November 28th, 1838. This vessel traded between Waterford and London, and her cargoes consisted chiefly, of cattle and pigs, the latter of which were always stowed on deck, the vessel having been built and fitted for that express purpose. On one of her trips, in 1838, she met with very boisterous weather, and became in great danger. The captain, in order to save her, found it necessary to throw overboard her deck cargo, consisting of upwards of 700 pigs. The owner of these pigs then proceeded against the present plaintiff, who was the owner of the vessel, to recover contribution for the average loss, in the Court of Exchequer, in Ireland; and the plaintiff brought the present action against the underwriters, to recover the sum which he had been compelled to make to the owner of the pigs. The defendant pleaded, first, that the pigs were not thrown overboard; second, that where goods on deck were thrown overboard they were not subject to a general average; and, thirdly, that, by the custom of London, the anderwriters were not liable to the loss of a deck cargo, unless it was specially insured. The Attorney-general for the defendant admitted, that the first issue, as to the pigs having been thrown overboard, must be found for the plaintiff. Sir William Follett, for the plaintiff, did not dispute that this had been the custom with reference to sailing vessels, and that underwriters were not liable to contribute upon a general average. Where a part of a cargo was thrown overboard, the owner of the ship was bound to contribute, and he could recover his contribution from the underwriters upon the vessel. In this instance, therefore, the plaintiff, having been compelled to make contribution, now called upon the defendants to indemnify him; if the underwriters were not liable, the owner of the ship was not liable, but the Court of Exchequer in Ireland had decided that he was liable. This was the case of a steam vessel, and it was the usage on steam vessels, to stow the live-stock on deck. The custom, therefore, applying to sailing vessels did not apply to steamers. Lord Denman, in summing up, observed, that it was denied that the captain had thrown the pigs overboard for the preservation of the ship. The question for the jury was, whether the custom set up by the defendant did in fact exist; but, if they considered the usage of a particular trade to stow on deck was proved, that would form an exception to the custom. If such a usage existed, the underwriters were bound to know it.

ACTION ON THE BILL OF LADING; CUSTOM OF RUSSIA.

In the English Court of Exchequer, an action was recently brought by Dumas rs. Harland, for not accepting 1,600 quarters of foreign wheat, alleged by the plaintiff to have been sold by him to the defendant in August last. From the evidence of Mr. Westhorpe, a broker, it appeared that the wheat in question being expected by him to arrive shortly from Taganrog, a Russian port in the Black Sea, he sold the same to the plaintiff for his correspondents, and that he shortly afterward resold the same to the defendant for a Mr. Gorsen, on the 19th of August, at the rate of 50s. per quarter, in the presence of Mr. Parsall, another broker of the Corn-Exchange. On the part of the defendant it was contended as an excuse for the non-acceptance of the wheat on its arrival, that there had been a misrepresentation on the part of Mr. Westhorpe as to the date of the bill of lading, by reason of which he had misled the defendant into a belief that that document was dated the 3d of July according to the new style, whereas in truth, as was the custom of Russia, the date was of the old style, and was, in fact, the "14th of July," by which a material difference arose in the

value of wheat intended for importation into England. Under these circumstances, the main struggle to-day was between the evidence of Mr. Westhorpe for the plaintiff, and that of Messrs. Gorsen and Parsall for the defendant, the former denying that he had done more than say, that he believed or thought that the date of the bill of lading was according to the new style, and positively asserting that he had never guarantied the defendant to that effect; while, on the other hand, the defendant's witnesses, admitting much that Mr. Westhorpe had said, added thereto that particular inquiries were made as to the real date, and that furthermore that gentleman had attached to the sold note a memorandum to the effect that "the bill of lading was dated the 3d of July, 1840," before the contract had been perfected by the interchange of the bought and sold notes between the brokers. This statement, however, Mr. Westhorpe met by saying that the memorandum in question was not written by him till after the delivery of the notes, and was not intended by him to be a part of the contract, or to operate in any way as a guarantee of the fact that the date was according to the English computation, but simply of the fact that the date was so expressed in the bill of lading. The jury found for the plaintiff for the full amount claimed, which was upwards of £3,000.

DAMAGES ON PROTESTED BILLS OF EXCHANGE.*

MAINE-Payable out of the state, and in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut or New York, 3 per cent; in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia or District of Columbia, 5 per cent; in North Carolina, South Carolina or Georgia, 6 per cent; at any other place in the United States or Territories, 9 per cent; at any place out of the United States or Territories, 10 per cent; payable within the state, at not less than 75 miles distance, in sums of $100 and over, 1 per cent.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.-[In this state there is no existing statute regulation on the subject. The usual practice has been to charge the rate of damages existing at the point where the bill was payable.]

VERMONT [No Statute regulation on this subject exists in this state. The practice has been similar to that in New Hampshire.]

MASSACHUSETTS.-Payable out of the United States, except beyond the Cape of Good Hope, 5 per cent; beyond the Cape, 20 per cent; in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, 2 per cent; in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, 3 per cent; in Virginia, District of Columbia, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, 4 per cent; elsewhere in the United States or Territories, 5 per cent. Within the state, not less than 75 miles distant, in sums not less than $100, one per cent. RHODE ISLAND.-Payable without the United States, 10 per cent; within the United States, and out of Rhode Island, 5 per cent.

CONNECTICUT Payable in the city of New York, 2 per cent; in New Hamp shire, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, (out of the city,) New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, or District of Columbia, 3 per cent; in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, or Ohio, 5 per cent; in any other State or Territory, 8 per cent.

NEW YORK Payable in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, or District of Columbia, 3 per cent; in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, or Tennessee, 5 per cent; at any other place in the United States, or on this continent north of the equator, or the West Indies, or elsewhere in the West Atlantic Ocean, 10 per cent; in Europe, 10 per cent.

VOL. V.NO. III.

* As regulated by the laws of the different states.

34

NEW JERSEY. [There are no statute regulations on this subject in New Jersey.]

PENNSYLVANIA.-Payable out of this state, in the United States or Territories, except Louisiana, 5 per cent; in Louisiana, or any other state in North America, or the Islands thereof, except the Northwest coast of America and Mexico, or in any of the West India or Bahama Islands, 10 per cent; in Madeira, the Canaries, the Azores, the Cape de Verds, the Spanish Main or Mexico, 15 per cent; in any place in Europe or the islands thereof, 20 per cent; at any other place in the world, 25 per cent.

DELAWARE-Payable at any place within the United States or Territories, out of Delaware, 5 per cent; at any place in Europe, 20 per cent.

MARYLAND.-Payable without the state, and at any place in the United States, or Territories thereof, 8 per cent; in any foreign country, 15 per cent.

VIRGINIA. Payable out of the state, at any place within the United States or Territories, 3 per cent; in any foreign country, 15 per cent.

NORTH CAROLINA.—-Payable in any of the United States except Louisiana, 6 per cent; at any other place in North America, on the Northwest Coast, in the West Indies or Bahama Islands, 10 per cent; in Madeira, the Canaries, the Azores, Cape de Verds, or other place in Europe or South America, 15 per cent; in any other part of the world, 20 per cent.

SOUTH CAROLINA.-Payable within the United States at any place out of South Carolina, 10 per cent; in any other part of North America, or the West India Islands, 12 per cent; in any other part of the world, 15 per cent.

GEORGIA. Payable in any part of the United States or Territories out of Georgia, 5 per cent; at any place without the United States, 10 per cent. ALABAMA. Payable out of the state, and at any place within the United States or Territories, 10 per cent; in any place beyond the United States, 20 per cent.

MISSISSIPPI Payable at any place out of the state, within the United States, 5 per cent; at any place out of the United States or Territories, 10 per cent. LOUISIANA.-Payable at any place out of the state, within the United States or Territories, 5 per cent; at any place without the United States, 10 cent. per TENNESSEE-Payable without the state at any place in the United States or Territories, 3 per cent; in any other place in North America, on the Gulf of Mexico, or West India Islands, 15 per cent; in other parts of the world, 20 per

cent.

KENTUCKY.-On foreign bills, 10 per cent damages are allowed. On inland bills, damages are governed by the law of the place.

OHIO.-Payable at any place without the United States, 12 per cent; within the United States at any place out of Ohio, 6 per cent.

INDIANA.-Payable at any place without the United States, 10 per cent; at any place within the United States out of Indiana, 5 per cent. Drawer or endorser not liable for damages, if paid at maturity, with costs.

ILLINOIS.—Payable at any place without the United States, 10 per cent; at any point within the United States, and out of Illinois, 5 per cent.

MISSOURI Payable at any place within the state, 4 per cent; out of the state, and within the United States, 10 per cent; at any place out of United States or Territories, 20 per cent.

MICHIGAN.-[No statute regulation has as yet been adopted in this state.] ARKANSAS.-Payable at any place within the state, 2 per cent; in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, or at any place on the Ohio river, 4 per cent; in any other place in the United States or Territories, 5 per cent; at any place out of the United States, 10 per cent; together with costs and interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum. FLORIDA. Same as the state of Alabama.

WISCONSIN.-Payable at any place without the United States, 20 per cent; out of the Territory, adjoining the same within the United States, 5 per cent; in the United States not adjoining the Territory, 10 per cent.

Iowa. The same as in the Territory of Wisconsin.

DISTRICT COLUMBIA.-[The rates established in Maryland and Virginia, are charged on protested bills in the District.]

In Europe, damages on protested bills of exchange, are what will enable the holder to purchase a new bill, at the current rate of exchange, together with interest and all charges, such as protest, postages, and commissions.

There is no general law in the United States on the subject; and damages are regulated by statute in the different states, varying in some instances widely, as will be seen by the preceding table.

The amount due and damages are usually calculated after the rate of exchange where the bill is returned, and not on the face of it; unless the contents of the bill are expressed in federal money, in which case the damages are ascertained without reference to the rate of exchange.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1-A Treatise on the Rights and Duties of Merchant Seamen, according to the general maritime law, and the statutes of the United States. By GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS, of the Boston bar. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown. 1841.

The author of this treatise is already favorable known to the profession of the law, by a thorough, accurate, and well-arranged Admiralty Digest, an indispensable work in the library of every practitioner in a commercial city, and by a collection of neat forms in conveyancing. The present work is divided into five parts. The first part, subdivided into five chapters, treats of the professional and national character of merchant seamen, of the general nature of the mariner's contract, the parties to it, its various forms, with a full examination into the forms and construction of shipping articles. The second part, consisting of five chapters, treats of the respective office and authority of the master and mate in relation to the crew and passengers, of the law regulating the subsistence of mariners, and the care of them in sickness, of offences against the discipline and economy of the ship, and the public law, and of the discharge of seamen. The third part, divided into four chapters, is devoted to an examination of the master's relation to the vessel and its owners, the cargo and the freight, and to the subject of his wages, disbursements, and advances. The fourth part, consisting of three chapters, is occupied with the subject of wages, and especially of the time within which their payment may be demanded and enforced, of the extent to which they are affected by the various casualties and interruptions to which a voyage is liable, and of the principles of forfeiture appicable to them. The fifth part, containing three chapters, is occupied with a discussion of the rights and remedies of mariners for their wages, and for damages in personal torts, and of the admiralty and common law jurisdiction in mariners' cases. An appendix is added, containing some curious and coPous extracts from the records of the vice admiralty court for the province of Massachusetts Bay, various forms of shipping articles, and the statutes of the United States relating to ships, navigation, and seamen.

From the above abstract, it will be seen how extensive a range of subjects has been embraced by Mr. Curtis, and with what judiciousness he has arranged and disposed of his materials. The manner in which he has executed the details of

work leaves nothing to be desired. His ample outline has been filled up with great fulness and great accuracy. The capacious store of English and American learning, the decisions of the various courts, and the enactments of egislatures, have been examined, for authorities and illustrations, with minute ndustry and unfailing sagacity. Nor has the author confined himself within the pale of the English tongue, notwithstanding the high rank of those who speak it, in maritime affairs, nor has he disdained to make use of the rich stores

of learning and good sense, found in the codes, enactments, and treatises of continental Europe. The laws of Oleron, of Rhodes, and Wisburg, the Consolato del Mare, the French Ordinances, the writings of Pothier and Valin, are not less familiar to him than the judgments of Lord Stowell and Mr. Justice Story, and the work of Lord Tenterden. We are not aware of any source of information which has escaped our author's diligent researches. He has presented the result of his careful investigations in a luminous, succinct, and accurate shape, which gives to each subject its due prominence and fair proportion. Nor is his work a mere digest of adjudged cases. He has fairly applied his mind to his task. He has evidently reflected carefully upon the subjects which came under his consideration, and sought to discover the principle upon which the cases are made to rest; and in doubtful questions, has not hesitated to state frankly his own opinion and the reasons upon which it is founded. The style of the work is flowing, easy, and graceful, showing the writer to be a person of general cultivation, and accustomed to literary composition. A pervading tone of good sense and correct feeling runs through it, giving indication that the author has not studied the subject exclusively in the solitude of his office, but has been practically acquainted with it, and has seen how the system works in courts and in every-day life. In short, he has evidently practised maritime law, as well as studied it.

To the legal profession this work is a valuable gift. It supersedes and renders comparatively useless other works upon the same subject, and contains all that the practitioner can be likely to want. To every lawyer who lives within the region embraced by the ebb and flow of the sea, we should consider it nothing less than indispensable. And notwithstanding its stores of legal learning, it is written in so plain and perspicuous a style, that there is no part of it which would not be perfectly intelligible to a non-professional reader, and on this account it may be recommended to the intelligent merchant and shipmaster, as an excellent manual for reference and consultation. We cannot dismiss the work without a word of praise for its beautiful exterior. The type and paper are of the very best quality, and its whole appearance reflects the highest credit upon the taste and enterprise of the publishers.

2.-Lectures on the History of Literature, ancient and modern, from the German of FREDERICK SCHLEGEL. New York: J. & H. G. Langley. 12mo. pp. 392. The present age is characterized not more by the increased regard paid to the study of literature, than it is by the improved systems devised for its successful cultivation. Formerly we had to wade through ponderous tomes of learned lore, as ill-digested as they were cumbrous, devolving on the student the laborious task of extracting from the accumulated heaps whatever might be found to profit or to please. By our modern improved methods, however, we are spared this labor, and in nearly every department of literature and science, we have ready to our hand, all the vast stores of knowledge, so admirably arranged as to be available for immediate use. The benefits arising from this labor-saving process are indeed a desideratum for those engaged in commercial pursuits. who have to economize time; and it must be equally acceptable to the general student, in facilitating reference and in imparting to it more distinct and permanent impressions. One of the most valuable works of this class is the above, which, as a synoptical work on the subject of which it treats, is unquestionably to be regarded as one of the most valuable and complete. It is needless to bespeak for a work from the pen of Schlegel, the favorable opinions of the reading community; and assuredly no person of literary taste can remain insensible to its intrinsic value. The translation, which is attributed to the accomplished pen of J. G. Lockhart, Esq., is indeed a master-piece, and well worthy of his scholastic reputation. It is only necessary to add, that to this American edition is appended an original Index, which of course imparts to the work additional value. The typographical part of the work is creditable to the taste and enterprise of the publishers.