By the doctrines of agency
he would be personally liable for the whole damage. If the origin
of the system of limited liability which is believed to be so
essential to modern commerce is to be attributed to those
considerations of public policy on which it would now be
sustained, that system has nothing to do with the law of
collision. But if the limit of liability here stands on the same
ground as the noxoe deditio, confirms the explanation already
given of the liability of the ship for wrongs done by it while
out of the owner's hands, and conversely existence of that
liability confirms the argument here.
Let us now take another rule, for which, as usual, there is a
plausible explanation of policy. Freight, it is said, the mother
of wages; for, we are told, "if the ship perished, [31] if the
mariners were to have their wages in such cases, they would not
use their endeavors, nor hazard their lives, for the safety of
the ship." /1/ The best commentary on this reasoning is, that the
law has recently been changed by statute. But even by the old law
there was an exception inconsistent with the supposed reason. In
case of shipwreck, which was the usual case of a failure to earn
freight, so long as any portion of the ship was saved, the lien
of the mariners remained.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55