Merchant Shipping Act 1894

44 Rules as to certificates of sale.

The following rules shall be observed as to certificates of sale:—

(1) A certificate of sale shall not be granted except for the sale of an entire ship :

(2) The power shall be exercised in conformity with the directions contained in the certificate :

(3) A sale made in good faith thereunder to a purchaser for valuable consideration shall not be impeached by reason of the person by whom the power was given dying before the making of such sale :

(4) Whenever the certificate contains a specification of the place at which, and a limit of time not exceeding twelve months within which, the power is to be exercised, a sale made in good faith to a purchaser for valuable consideration without notice shall not be impeached by reason of the bankruptcy of the person by whom the power was given:

(5) A transfer made to a person qualified to be the owner of a British ship shall be by a bill of sale in accordance with this Act:

(6) If the ship is sold to a person qualified to be the owner of a British ship the ship shall be registered as new; but notice of all mortgages enumerated on the certificate of sale shall be entered in the register book:

(7) Before registry anew there shall be produced to the registrar required to make the same the bill of sale by which the ship is transferred, the certificate of sale, and the certificate of registry of such ship:

(8) The last-mentioned registrar shall retain the certificates of sale and registry, and after having endorsed on both of those instruments an entry of the fact of a sale having taken place, shall forward them to the registrar of the port appearing thereon to be the former port of registry of the ship, and the last-mentioned registrar shall thereupon make a memorandum of the sale in his register book, and the registry of the ship in that book shall be considered as closed, except as far as relates to any unsatisfied mortgages or existing certificates of mortgage entered therein:

(9) On such registry anew the description of the ship contained in her original certificate of registry may be transferred to the new register book, without her being re-surveyed, and the declaration to be made by the purchaser shall be the same as would be required to be made by an ordinary transferee:

(10) If the ship is sold to a person not qualified to be the owner of a British ship, the bill of sale by which the ship is transferred, the certificate of sale, and the certificate of registry shall be produced to a registrar or British consular officer, and that registrar or officer shall retain the certificates of sale and registry, and, having endorsed thereon the fact of that ship having been sold to a person not qualified to be the owner of a British ship, shall forward the certificates to the registrar of the port appearing on the certificate of registry to be the port of registry of that ship ; and that registrar shall thereupon make a memorandum of the sale in his register book, and the registry of the ship in that book shall be considered as closed, except so far as relates to any unsatisfied mortgages or existing certificates of mortgage entered therein:

(11) If, on a sale being made to a person not qualified to be the owner of a British ship, default is made in the production of such certificates as are mentioned in the last rule, that person shall be considered by British law as having acquired no title to or interest in the ship; and further, the person upon whose application the certificate of sale was granted, and the person exercising the power, shall each be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds :

(12) If no sale is made in conformity with the certificate of sale, that certificate shall be delivered to the registrar by whom the same was granted; and he shall thereupon cancel it and enter the fact of the cancellation in the register book; and every certificate so cancelled shall be void for all intents and purposes.