Trinity House in the port of departure, or the port at which the ship arrives before she takes in or discharges her cargo, and to be recovered by action of debt (1). The stat. 8 Ann. c. 17. further directs, that these duties shall be paid for every vessel, as well British as alien, passing by the light-house from or to any place whatever, and shall be collected of the master in any part of the United Kingdom, and recovered in any of the courts of law (2). No cocket is to be granted until payment of the duty, and the master must produce an acquittance or lightbill, under the hand of the collector, testifying the receipt (3). The Trinity House agent is empowered to go on board the vessel to receive the duty, and the tackle or furniture may be distrained for non-payment (4). The statute 8 Ann. was passed to extend the liability to duty to vessels which touched in Ireland only; and the words inward and outward bound restrain the payment of these duties to such vessels as depart from or touch at British ports. Foreign ships sailing from one foreign port to another are clearly not liable to duty; and British ships passing by the Edystone and other light-houses in the English channel, but not touching at a place in Great Britain or Ireland, are not liable to the payment of the light-house duties (5). The legislature could not indeed have intended to impose upon our own ships, when engaged in foreign service, any burthens to which foreigners are not subject. In time of peace our transports are engaged in foreign service, to the great increase of our navigation, the encouragement of trade, and the support of our seamen; but if subject to duties to which foreigners are not, the latter would be able to let their ships at a lower rate, or the British freighter must pay the duties out of his own pocket (6). The local situation of the Edystone light-house has been described as follows. It bears from Plymouth or the entrance of the Sound south and by west; and from Ramhead south and half a point easterly; and is distant from the anchoring in the sound four leagues; and from Rampoint about three leagues and a half, this being the nearest shore to the

(1) 4 Ann. c. 20.

(2) 8 Ann. c. 17. s. 1.

(3) 8 Ann. c. 17. s. 2 .See the Trinity House v. Clark, 4 M. & S. 289. 291.

(4) 8 Ann. c. 17. s. 3.

(5) The Trinity House v. Sorsbie, 3 T. R. 768. Vide also Trinity House v. Clarke, 4 M. & S. 288-291.

(6) Id. ibid.

house; and the isle of Maystone bears from the light-house about north-east, and is also four leagues distant south. All ships coming from the east or west to Plymouth have much the same advantage of the light all the rocks near this house are on the eastwardly side, and stretching north, but most southerly, and all are covered at high water; but on the west side any ship may sail close by the house, there being 12 or 13 fathoms water, and no hidden rock; although towards the east and by north, about a quarter of a mile distant from the house, there lies one that never appears but at low spring tides, and is the more dangerous as it is little known (1). Besides the Edy- Skerries. stone light-house, there are also similar securities for navigation at the Skerries, at Dungeness Foreland, at the Island of Portland, on the Caskett rocks near Alderney, on the Needle Point in the Isle of Wight, besides the Little Cumray light-house, and some light-houses erected for the service of private ports, as at Ilford Combe, on St. Boes Head, near Whitehaven (2). The statute 3 Geo. 2. c. 36. recites and confirms the letters patent granted by queen Anne to William Trench, esquire, for erecting a light-house upon the island or rock called Skerries, lying in the sea near Holyhead in Anglesea, provides for the maintenance of the light-house, and makes the duties granted in respect of it perpetual. This act declares that the lighthouse is thereby vested in Sutton Morgan, his heirs and assigns, to the intent that he may from time to time keep it in sufficient repair, and in the night season maintain a proper fire in it, so that the trade and navigation in the channel might be effectually preserved, according to the intent and meaning of the act; the duties granted by the act being subject to the expence of maintaining the light-house and fire, to the expence incurred by the act, to the payment of the debts due from Mr. Trench at the time of his death, and also the debts of Ruth Trench (3). So in the reign of Charles the se- Spurm poin. cond, letters patent were granted for the erection of lighthouses at the sandy point called the Spurm, at the mouth of the Humber. Part of the ground at the Spurm point having been lately washed away, and other ground thrown up, so that

(1) 1 Beawes, 6 ed. 309.

(2) 1 Beawes, 6 ed. 310. charters mentioned. Trinity House v.

House v. Clark, 4 M. & S. 288.

(3) 3 Geo. 2. c. 36. s. 8. 3 And. Hist. Comm. 164.

Chester.

The Smalls.

Duties.

the light-houses stood at a considerable distance from the point, it became necessary to remove them, and a statute was passed to enable one of the proprietors to carry on the work, the others being unwilling to engage in it. The statute recites the letters patent, and contains several important provisions (1). Temporary light-houses were erected under the authority of this act by an enterprising individual; but as sufficient money could not be raised, the corporation of the Trinity-house was applied to, and another statute was passed in the 12th year of George the third, to give further power to the Trinity House with regard to the erection of the new light-houses; the property was to be retained by the corporation till the duties payable should reimburse all charges, after which it was to revert to the former proprietors (2). In the 16 Geo. 3. an act was passed for erecting light-houses and landmarks at the port of Chester, and for placing buoys upon the banks and shoals leading into and out of the port, for regulating pilots and other persons towing or tracking vessels to and from the city of Chester, and for fixing the rate payable (3). In the 18th year of the last reign an act was passed to enable the corporation of the Trinity House to establish and maintain a light-house on the rocks called The Smalls, in St. George's Channel. It recites the act of 8 Eliz., and letters patent of the 36th of the same queen, and enacts, that after a light is placed in a lighthouse on one of the rocks called The Smalls, certain duties shall be paid to the corporation of the Trinity House (4). Several statutes were also passed in the course of the late reign with regard to the erection of light-houses in the northern parts of Great Britain. (5)

With regard to the duties payable in respect of establishments of this nature, it may be observed, in addition to what has been already stated in considering the Eddystone light-house, that in the reign of Charles 2d a case occurred, in which it was decided that an order or decree in the cinque ports for raising a tax for repairing a beacon was valid, without setting

(1) 6 Geo. 3. c. 31. 3 Macph. Com. 445,521.

(2) 12 Geo. 3. c. 29.

(3) 16 Geo. 3. c. 61.

(4) 18 Geo. 3. c. 42. 3 Macph Ann. 621.

(5) 26 Geo. 3. c. 101. 4 Macph. Aun. 171. 28 Geo. 3. c. 25. 29 Geo. 3. c. 52. 187.

forth that it was at the time actually in decay or out of repair,
The case came on upon a certiorari directed to the mayor
jurats and commonalty of the ancient town of Winchelsea in
Sussex, to remove an order or decree made by them. The
return stated that there had been time out of mind in Kent and
Sussex five ancient towns; viz. Hastings, Sandwich, Dover,
New Romney, and Hithe; and that in Sussex there are two
other ancient towns called Rye and Winchelsea, which are
members of the cinque ports; that the town of Winchelsea has
beenfrom time immemorial incorporated by the name of the
mayor, jurats, and commonalty of Winchelsea; that all the
cinque ports with their members have been from time imme-
morial places for ordering provision, and for the preservation
of shipping belonging to the kings and queens of England for
the time being; and that by reason of their situation upon or
near the sea-shore, the inhabitants and residents, as well for
the preservation of the said towns, as of the kingdom of Eng-
land against foreign invasion, have always kept and ought to
keep beacons, watch-houses, and guards, night and day, as well
by sea as by land; and for the better maintenance thereof, the
town of Winchelsea, in the common hall, has been used to make
taxes and rates upon every occupier of house or land lying within
the town or liberties, which privileges have been confirmed by
Magna Charta. That on the 1st of May, 32 Car. 2. the cor-
poration made a tax of 6d. per pound for maintaining the said
beacons and watch-houses, according to a schedule annexed to
the tax.
The court determined that the order for the tax for
repairing the beacon was valid, although it was not stated to
have been actually out of repair, and the inhabitants, who were
taxing themselves, could not be supposed to act unnecessarily. (1)

The liability to pay duties to the Trinity House has been Duties not payable by translately determined by the court of King's Bench not to attach ports, &c. in serupon a person who had chartered his ship to the commissioners vice of crown. of the transport service, on behalf of the Crown, to be employed as a transport, it being apparent from the terms of the charter-party, and the nature of the service to be performed, that the defendant was not to be considered as owner, within the meaning of the charters granted to the corporation. This

(1) The case of the town of Bac. Abr. Prerogative, B 6.

doctrine was laid down in an action of indebitatus assumpsit being brought by the corporation of the Deptford Trinity House for duties claimed in respect of the following lights; viz. the Goodwin lights, Owers light, Needles, Portland, Caskets, Lizard, Scilly, and Nore, and in respect of the buoys and beacons on coming up and entering the Thames. The vessel in the course of her employment as a transport under the charterparty, sailed from Deptford to Malta and other places in the Mediterranean, and returned to Deptford, from whence she again sailed to Cadiz and Gibraltar, and returned to Deptford, and had the benefit of the lights, buoys, and beacons. The argument on the part of the defendant was, first, that the Crown, during the period of the ship's employment under the charterparty, was to be considered as owner, and therefore by the several charters and patents, which with the exception of the Scilly charter imposed these duties upon the master and owner, the ship was exempt from duties, or at all events that the defendant was not liable to pay them; and secondly, that the charters, &c. or most of them, contemplated that in all the cases in which duties were to become payable, the ship was to clear outwards or report inwards, and that in this case, because the vessel neither cleared outwards nor reported inwards, the duties were not payable. It appeared from the charters that the light-house duties are imposed on the masters and owners of ships, except that the grant of king Charles the second for the Scilly lights only authorizes a reasonable allowance to be taken, without fixing any precise rate, or saying by whom it shall be paid. The buoyage and beaconage were claimed under a grant of those offices, with all accustomed fees, made to the plaintiffs by queen Eliz. in the 36th year of her reign. All the charters, except those above-mentioned of Charles the second and queen Elizabeth, contain an injunction to all officers of the customs not to give any vessel a cocquet or discharge, if they do not produce a certificate of the payment of these duties; and they also give the officers of the Trinity House a place in all the custom-houses where the collection is made. And all the charters, except the two above-mentioned, and the charter of 7 Geo. 2. for the Nore light, direct that the duties on outward-bound ships shall be paid before their clearing outwards at the custom-house. The three charters of the latest date, namely, those for the Goodwin, the Owers, and the Needles lights, except in terms ships or vessels belonging to his majesty; and it was admitted that such ships +2