By stat. 6 G. 4. c. 125. s. 2. the Trinity House of London were required to appoint and license "fit and competent persons duly skilled to act as pilots, for the purpose of conducting all ships and vessels sailing, navigating and passing" within the last mentioned limits; "and all ships and vessels sailing, navigating and passing as aforesaid (save and except as hereinafter provided) shall be conducted and piloted within the limits aforesaid, by such pilots so to be appointed and licensed, and by no other pilots or persons whomsoever."

Either party was to be at liberty to refer to any statutes or charters which relate to the matters in question.

The question for the opinion of the Court was, Whether the master of The Oscar, the appellant, was on the 6th April, 1864, qualified by the licence from the Trinity House of Leith held by him to pilot the ship between the Nore and Orfordness.

The Solicitor General (Maude with him), for the respondent.-First. The Trinity House of Leith had no right to grant a licence authorising the appellant to act as a pilot in navigating ships between Orfordness and the Nore. The Charter granted to the Trinity House of London by James II. (a) authorises them to grant exclusive licences between those limits, and stats. 5 G. 2. c. 20. s. 1., 48 G. 3. c. 104. s. 2., 52 G. 3. c. 39. s. 2. and 6 G. 4. c. 125. s. 2. are to the same effect; the two last of which contain the words, "all which vessels shall be conducted and piloted by such pilots so appointed and licensed, and by no other pilots or persons whomsoever." By the Charter obtained by the Trinity House of (a) The case reserved liberty to refer to Charters.

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Leith in 1797, confirmed by stat. 1 G. 4. c. xxxvii., it was intended that they should have substantially a Scotch jurisdiction: the words of the charter and sect. 32 of the statute, which give the Trinity House of Leith power to license pilots" along the coasts and islands of the Northern and German Oceans," are to be construed with reference to the object contemplated, the recital in the charter, and the previously existing rights of the Trinity House of London. The mention of the German Ocean, if not satisfied by confining it to the islands, must be rejected as surplusage. The words along the east coast of England," which occur in the licence, are not in the Charter or the statute.

Secondly. If the charter gave jurisdiction to the Trinity House of Leith to license pilots between Orfordness and the Nore it is repealed by The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104. s. 370., which enacts that the Trinity House of London shall continue to appoint and license pilots for conducting ships within certain limits, including the seas and channels leading to and from the Thames "as far as Orfordness to the north." And by sect. 331, "every pilotage authority shall retain all powers and jurisdiction which it now lawfully possesses, so far as the same are consistent with the provisions of this Act; but no law relating to such authority, or to the pilots licensed by it, and no act done by such authority, shall, if inconsistent with any provision of this Act, be of any force whatever." For navigating ships north of Orfordness pilots were licensed by the Trinity House of Hull and Newcastle in pursuance of stat. 52 G. 3. c. 39. s. 21., and are now licensed by it in pursuance of stat. 6 G. 4. c. 125. s. 6.

Thirdly. The licence granted to the appellant is not

of the description required by The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104.; the object of which was to require shipowners to employ other persons than the master of the ship to act as pilots: by the interpretation clause, sect. 2, the word "pilot' shall mean any person not belonging to a ship who has the conduct thereof." Sect. 354 requires that all ships carrying passengers within the limits of a pilotage district shall have a qualified pilot on board, with two exceptions, viz., if the master or his mate has a pilotage certificate 'granted under the provisions herein before contained," that is under sect. 340, or a certificate under sect. 355 applicable to the district and to the ship.

Coleridge (R. E. Turner with him), for the appellant. -First. Under the Charter of 37 Geo. 3., and stat. 1 G. 4. c. xxxvii., the licence granted to the appellant by the Trinity House of Leith authorized him to navigate his vessel between the Nore and Orfordness. The recital in the charter, preceding the grant of power to license pilots, refers to the great increase of the trade and navigation of these realms in general, and of that part of the United Kingdom called Scotland, and to the fact that no body corporate in Scotland was invested with power to license pilots for navigating ships "in, through and along the adjoining seas, friths and coasts," which must mean "of these realms;" shewing that the authority of the Trinity House of Leith to grant licences was not intended to be confined to Scotland. And the power to grant licences extends to navigating ships "in and through the seas and friths and along the coasts and islands of the Northern and German Oceans." Stat. 1 G. 4. c. xxxvii. s. 30. is a general confirmation of the powers and autho

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rities belonging to the Trinity House of Leith by immemorial usage and by charter relative to the licensing of pilots. Sect. 32 contains an express power to license pilots in the same terms as the charter, without any saving of the jurisdiction of the Trinity House of London. Sect. 33 gives the Trinity House of Leith exclusive right of granting licences to pilots within certain limits. The district between the Nore and Orfordness is comprised in and part of the German Ocean within the meaning of the charter and statute. Keith Johnston, Dictionary of Geography, Mac Culloch, Geographical Dictionary, and Ency. Brit., Edinb. 1860, voc. "Thames ;" and Malte Brun, Universal Geography, Edinb. 1833, vol. 6, pp. 5, 6, fix the beginning of the North Sea or German Ocean at the Nore. [He also referred to the preamble of stat. 5 G. 2. o. 20.] Stat. 5 G. 2. c. 20. s. 1. limits the jurisdiction of the Trinity House of London to the sea between Orfordness and the Downs inclusive. Sect. 11 exempts from the operation of the Act the pilots of the Trinity House of Kingston-upon-Hull and the Trinity House of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Sect. 12 saves the jurisdiction of the master, warden and pilots of the Trinity House of Dover, Deal and the Isle of Thanet. Stat. 48 G. 3. c. 104. s. 29. saves the jurisdiction of the Trinity House of Leith; for it enacts that nothing in the Act shall extend to give any authority to the Trinity House of Deptford Strond "within any ports or districts having separate jurisdiction in matters of pilotage under any Act of Parliament or charter." [He also referred to sects. 44. 55. Stat. 52 G. 3. c. 39. s. 32. saves the privileges of the pilots of the Trinity House of Kingston-upon-Hull and of the Trinity House of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and then contains a general saving in the same terms as occur

in stat. 48 G. 3. c. 104. s. 29. Stat. 6 G. 4. c. 125., which, by sect. 1, repeals stat. 52 G. 3. c. 39., contains a clause, sect. 89, saving separate jurisdictions in the same terms as sect. 29 of stat. 48 G. 3. c. 104. and sect. 32 of stat. 52 G. 3. c. 39.; and stat. 1 G. 4. c. xxxvii. remains unrepealed: for where the Legislature, by a special Act, confers upon a Corporation powers for an object of public benefit, those powers are not affected by a subsequent statute giving similar powers to another Corporation in terms which, from their generality, would seem to overrule the powers given by the former Act, unless it expressly mentions or repeals it; The London and Blackwall Railway Company v. The Limehouse District Board of Works (a); Morrisse v. The Royal British Bank (b).

Secondly. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104. s. 370., does not repeal the charter of 37 Geo. 3., or stat. 1 G. 4. c. xxxvii. It continues the power which the Trinity House of London had, but does not make it exclusive. The rights of the Trinity House of Leith are not inconsistent with any provision of stat. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104., and therefore are not affected by sect. 331. The proper construction of the Charter and statutes is that the Trinity House of Leith have sole and exclusive authority to grant licences so far as the Frith of Forth, and co-ordinate jurisdiction with the Trinity House of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Trinity House of Kingston-upon-Hull south of that frith.

Thirdly. There is nothing in stat. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104. to prevent the Trinity House of Leith from granting a licence to the master of a ship to act as pilot of it. By sect. 331 every pilotage authority shall retain (b) 1 C. B. N. S. 67.

(a) 3 K. & J. 123.

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