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SEA LAWS

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 538 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEA See also:LAWS  , a See also:title which came into use among writers on maritime See also:law in the 16th See also:century, and was applied by them to certain See also:medieval collections of usages of the See also:sea recognized as having the force of customary law, either by the judgments of a maritime See also:court or by the resolutions of a See also:congress of merchants and shipmasters . To the former class belong the sea See also:laws of See also:Oleron, embodying the usages of the mariners of the See also:Atlantic; under the latter come the sea laws of See also:Visby (Wisby), reflecting the customs of the mariners of the See also:North Sea and of the Baltic . The earliest collection of such usages received in See also:England is described in the See also:Black See also:Book of the See also:Admiralty as the " Laws of Oleron," whilst the earliest known See also:text is contained in the See also:Liber memorandorum of the See also:corporation of the See also:City of See also:London, preserved in the archives of their See also:Guildhall . These laws are in an See also:early See also:handwriting of the 14th century, and the title pre-fixed to them is La Cherie d'Oleroun See also:des juggementz de la mier . How and in what manner these " Judgments of the Sea " came to be collected is not altogether certain . Cleirac, a learned See also:advocate in the See also:parlement of See also:Bordeaux, in the introduction to his See also:work on See also:Les Us et coustumes de la mer (Bordeaux, 1647), states that Eleanor of See also:Aquitaine (q.v.), having observed during her visit to the See also:Holy See also:Land that the collection of customs of the sea contained in The Book of the Consulate of the Sea (see CONSULATE OF THE SEA) was held in high repute in the See also:Levant, directed on her return that a See also:record should be made of the judgments of the maritime court of the See also:island of Oleron (at that See also:time a See also:peculiar court of the duchy of See also:Guienne), in See also:order that they might serve as law amongst the mariners of the Western Sea . He states further that See also:Richard I. of England, on his return from the Holy Land, brought back with him a See also:roll of those judgments, which he published in England and ordained to be observed as law . Though R . G . See also:Marsden doubts the See also:story of Richard I. having brought back La Leye Olyroun to England, the See also:general outline of Cleirac's See also:account accords with a memorandum on the famous roll of 12 Edw . III., " De Superioritate See also:Maris Angliae " (for many years preserved in the archives of the See also:Tower of London, now deposited in the Public Record See also:Office) . According to this memorandum, the See also:king's justiciaries were instructed to declare and uphold the laws and statutes made by the See also:kings of England, in order to maintain See also:peace and See also:justice amongst the See also:people of every nation passing through the sea of England .

The earliest version of these Oleron sea laws comprised certain customs of the sea which were observed in the See also:

wine and the oil See also:trade, as carried on between the ports of Guienne and those of See also:Brittany, See also:Normandy, England and See also:Flanders . No See also:English See also:translation seems to have been made before the Rutter of the Sea, printed in London by See also:Thomas Petyt in 1536, in which they are styled " the See also:Lawes of ye Yle of Auleron and ye Judgementes of ye See." See also:French was, in fact, a See also:tongue See also:familiar to the English high court of admiralty down to the reign of See also:Henry VI . A Flemish text, however, appears to have been made in the latter See also:part of the 14th century, the See also:Purple Book of See also:Bruges, preserved in the archives of Bruges, in a handwriting somewhat later than that of the Liber Memorandorum . Prefixed to this Flemish version is the title, " Dit es de Coppie See also:van den Rollen van Oleron van den Vonnesse van der Zee." Certain changes, however, have been made in the Purple Book of Bruges in the names of the ports mentioned in the See also:original Gascon text . For instance, See also:Sluys is in several places substituted for Bordeaux, just as in the Rutter of the Sea London replaces Bordeaux . That these sea laws were administered in the Flemish maritime courts may be inferred from two facts . First, a Flemish translation of them was made for the use of the maritime tribunal of See also:Damme, which was the See also:chief Flemish See also:entrepot of the wine trade in the 13th century . The text of this translation has been published by Adriaen Verwer under the title of the Judgments of Damme . In the second See also:place, there is preserved in the archives of the See also:senate of See also:Danzig, where there was a maritime court of old, an early See also:manuscript of the 15th century, containing a Flemish See also:reproduction of the Judgments of Oleron headed " Dit is Twater Recht in Vlaenderen." So far there can be no doubt that the Judgments of Oleron were received as sea laws in Flanders as well as in England in the 14th century . Further inquiry can trace them as they followed the course of the wine trade in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea . ' Boxhorn, in his Chronyk van Zeelande, has published a Dutch version of them, which van Leeuwen has reproduced in his See also:Batavia Illustrata, under the title of the Laws of See also:West-See also:Capell in See also:Zealand . .Verwer has also published a Dutch text of them in his Nederlant's See-Rechten, accompanied by certain customs of See also:Amsterdam, of which other See also:MSS. exist, in which those customs are described as usages of Stavoren, or as usages of See also:Enkhuizen, both ports of active See also:commerce in the 15th century .

Of these customs of Amsterdam, or, as they were more generally styled, " Ordinances of Amsterdam," further mention is made below . A new and enlarged collection of sea laws, purporting to be an See also:

extract of the See also:ancient laws of Oleron, made its See also:appearance in the latter part of the 15th century in Le See also:Grant routier de la mer, printed at See also:Poitiers in See also:France by See also:Jan de Marnef, at the sign of the See also:Pelican . The title-See also:page is without a date, but the See also:dedication, which purports to be addressed by its author, See also:Pierre Garcie, See also:alias Ferrande, to his godson, is dated from St Gilles on the last See also:day of May 1483 . It contains See also:forty-seven articles, of which the first twenty-two are identical with articles of the " Judgments of the Sea," in the Liber Memorandorum, the remaining articles being evidently of more See also:recent origin . A black-See also:letter edition of this work in French, withouta date, is preserved in the Bddleian Library at See also:Oxford, and to the last See also:article this See also:colophon is appended: " See also:Ces choses precedentes sont extraictes du tres utille et profittable Roolle Doloyron See also:par le dict Pierre Garcie alias Ferrande." An English translation is printed in the appendix to A View of the See also:Admiral See also:Jurisdiction, published in 1661 by Dr See also:John See also:Godolphin, in which the laws are described as " an Extract of the Ancient Laws of Oleron rendered into English out of Garsias alias See also:Ferrand." Although this new text had the recommendation of an advocate who had filled the office of See also:judge of the Admiralty Court during the See also:Commonwealth and been appointed king's advocate-general by See also:Charles II., it seems to have been superseded in a See also:short time by Cleirac's Us et coustumes de la mer, to which was appended the following clause of authentication: " Tesmoin le Seel de 1'Isle d'Oleron, estably aux contracts de la dite Isle, le jour du Mardy apres la Feste Sainct See also:Andre 1'an mille deux cens soixant-six." Cleirac does not inform us from what source or under what circumstances he procured his text, nor on what authority he has adopted in certain articles readings at variance with those of Garcie, whilst he retains the same number of articles, to wit, forty-seven . The clause of authentication cannot be accepted as a See also:warranty above suspicion, as the identical clause of authentication with the same date is appended to the early See also:Norman and See also:Breton versions of the rolls, which contain only twenty-six articles . Cleirac's version, however, owing probably to the See also:superior See also:style in which it was edited, and to the importance of the other See also:treatises on maritime matters which Cleirac had brought together for the first time in a single See also:volume, seems to have obtained a preference in England over Garcie's text, as it was received in the High Court of Admiralty during the judgeship of See also:Sir Leoline Jenkyns, and an English translation of it was introduced into the English translation of the Black Book of the Admiralty made by John See also:Bedford, the See also:deputy registrar of the High Court . It seems to have been Bedford's intention to See also:print this translation under the title of " Sea Laws "; but the manuscript passed into the hands of Sir Leoline Jenkyns, who gave it to the See also:College of See also:Advocates in 1685 . The Black Book itself, which was missing for a See also:long time from the Admiralty registry, was discovered in the 19th century and replaced in the archives of the Admiralty Court . Of these two versions of the sea laws of Oleron the earlier obtained a See also:world-wide reception, for it was translated into Castilian (See also:Fuero de Layron) by order of King See also:Alphonso X., and a Gascon text of it is still preserved in the archives of See also:Leghorn, apparently in a handwriting of the 15th century, entitled " Asso es la copia See also:dens Rolles de Leron de jucgemens de See also:mar." The See also:parent stock of the Visby sea laws would appear to have been a See also:code preserved in the See also:chancery of See also:Lubeck, See also:drawn up in the Old Saxon tongue, and dated 1240 . This code contains amongst many others certain articles on maritime law which are identical with articles in the See also:Gotland sea laws . This collection comprises sixty-six articles, and it is now placed beyond a doubt by See also:modern researches, especially of See also:Professor Schlyter of See also:Lund, that these Gotland sea laws are a compilation derived from three distinct See also:sources—a Lubeck, an Oleron and an Amsterdam source .

A Saxon or See also:

Low See also:German text of this collection was printed for the first time in 1505 at See also:Copenhagen by See also:Godfrey de Gemen, a native of See also:Gouda in See also:Holland, who is reputed to have set up the earliest See also:printing-See also:press in Copenhagen . This print has no title-page, and in this respect resembles the earliest known print of The, Consulate of the 'Sea; but upon a See also:blank See also:leaf, which occupies the place of a See also:frontispiece in one of two copies of Godfrey de Gemen 's text, both preserved in the royal library at Copenhagen, there has been inserted with a See also:pen in alternate lines of black and red See also:ink the title " Dat hogheste Gotlansche See also:Water-Recht gedrucket to Koppenhaven See also:Anno Domini M.n.v,, " and there has also been inserted on the first page of the text the See also:introductory title " Her beghynt dat hogheste Water-Recht " (here begins the supreme sea law) . Professor Schlyter discovered a MS . (No . 3123) in the royal library at Copenhagen, which is written on See also:parchment in a See also:hand of the 15th century, and from which it seems probable that Godfrey de Gemen mainly derived his text, as it comprises the same number of articles, containing the same See also:matter arranged in the same order, with this See also:minor difference, that, whilst both the MS. and the print have the See also:simple title " Water-Recht " prefixed to the first article, the MS. has also a similar title prefixed to the fifteenth . Further, as this article, together with those that follow it in the MS. appears to be in a handwriting different from that of the articles that precede, the fifteenth article may justly be considered as the first of a distinct See also:series, more particularly as they are numbered in See also:Roman characters, beginning with § 1, and such characters are continued with a single interruption down to the end of the MS . Although, however, the numeration of the articles of this second series is continuous and the handwriting of the MS. from the fifteenth to the sixty-See also:sixth article is unchanged, the text of the series is not continuous, as the fortieth article commences with an introductory clause—" This is the See also:ordinance which the skippers and merchants have resolved amongst themselves as See also:ship law." There is no difficulty in recognizing the first See also:division of this second series of sea laws as a Low German version of the Judgments of Oleron, transmitted most probably through a Flemish text . This See also:hypothesis would account for the substitution in several articles of Sluys for Bordeaux . On the other hand, the introductory clause which ushers in the fortieth article is identical with the title that is generally prefixed to MSS. of the maritime Ordinances of Amsterdam, and the text of this and of the following articles down to the sixty-fifth inclusive is evidently of Dutch origin and more or less identical with Verwer's text of the usages of Amsterdam: M . See also:Pardessus, in his valuable Collection de loss maritimes, published in See also:Paris before Professor Schlyter made known the result of his researches, justly remarked that the provisions of several articles of this last division of the sea laws are inconsistent with the theory that they originated at Visby . It may be observed that the sixty-sixth article of the MS. is a Lubeck law identical with the first article of the first series, which is of Lubeck origin . No colophon is appended to this final article in the MS .

Nevertheless, Godfrey de Gemen's edition of 1505, which breaks off in the See also:

middle of the sixty-sixth article of the MS., has the following colophon: " Here end the Gotland sea laws, which the community of merchants and skippers have ordained and made at Visby, that all men may regulate themselves by them . Printed at Copenhagen, A.D . M.D.V." The question naturally suggests itself, To what MS. was Godfrey de Gemen indebted for this colophon, or is the alternative more probable that he devised it ? There is no known MS. of this collection of an earlier date to which an See also:appeal can be made as an authority for this colophon; on the contrary, the only known MSS. of which the date is earlier than Godfrey de Gemen's print, both of which are in the library of the university of Copenhagen, are without this colophon, and one of them, which purports to have been completed at See also:Nykoping on the See also:Eve of the Visitation of the Virgin in 1494, concludes with a colophon which precludes all See also:idea that anything has been omitted by the See also:scribe, viz., " Here ends this book, and may See also:God send us His See also:grace, See also:Amen." We are disposed to think that Gemen himself devised this colophon . He was engaged in printing for the first time other collections of laws for the Danish See also:government, and, as Gotland was at that time a See also:possession of Den-See also:mark, he may have thus distinguished the sea laws from another collection, namely, of land laws . Professor Schlyter, however, believes Gemen may have borrowed it from a MS. which is lost, or at all events is not known . There is some support to this view in the tact that in the archives of the guildhall of Lubeck there is pre-served a MS. of 1533 which contains a Low German version of the same collection of sea laws, with a See also:rubric prefixed to the first article announcing them to be " the water law or sea law, which is the See also:oldest and highest law of Visby," and there are See also:good reasons for supposing that the scribe of this MS. copied his text from a MS. other than the Copenhagen MS . The same observation will apply to a second MS. of a similar See also:character preserved in the library of the gymnasium of Lubeck, which purports to have been written in 1537 . But as regards the Visby sea laws little reliance can be placed on such rubrics or colophons as proofs of the facts recited in them, though they may be valuable as See also:evidence of the reputed origin of the sea laws at the time when the scribe completed the MS . In See also:illustration of this view it may be stated that in the same See also:year in which the more recent of these two MSS. purports to have been completed—namely 1537—there was printed at Lubeck an enlarged edition of the sea laws consisting of seventy-two articles, being a Low German translation of a Dutch text, in which six additional Dutch laws had been inserted which are not found in the Copenhagen MS., nor have a place in Gemen's text, yet to this edition is prefixed the title, "This is the highest and oldest sea law, which the community of merchants and shipmasters have ordained and made at Visby, that all persons who would be secure may regulate themselves by it." Further, it has an introductory clause to its See also:thirty-seventh article—" This is the ordinance which the community of skippers and merchants have resolved upon amongst themselves as ship law, which the men of See also:Zeeland, Holland, Flanders hold, and with the law of Visby, which is the oldest ship law." At the end of the seventy-second article there follows this colophon: " Here ends the Gotland sea law, which the community of merchants and mariners have ordained and made at Visby, that each may regulate himself by it . All See also:honour be to God, MDxxxvir." Each article of this edition has prefixed to it after its particular number the word " belevinge " (See also:judgment) . It would thus appear that the Visby sea laws have fared like the Oleron sea laws: they have gathered bulk with increasing years .

The question remains to be answered, How did this collection of sea laws acquire the title of the " Visby sea laws " outside the Baltic ? for under such title they were received in See also:

Scotland in the 16th century, as may be inferred from extracts from them cited in Sir See also:James See also:Balfour's See also:System of the more Ancient Laws of Scotland, which, although not printed till 1754, was completed before his See also:death in 1583 . The text of the Visby sea laws generally current in England is an English translation of a French text which Cleirac published in 1641 in his Us et coustumes de la mer, and is an abbreviated, and in many respects mutilated, version of the original sea laws . This inquiry, however, would open a new See also:chapter on the subject of the See also:northern sea laws, and the civilizing See also:influence which the merchants of Visby exercised in the 13th century through their factories at See also:Novgorod, linking thereby the trade of the Baltic to that of the Black Sea . (T . T.) See Pardessus, Collection de lois maritimes anterieures au X VIIIe See also:sack (6 vols., Paris, 1828-1845) ; Schlyter, Wisby Stadslag och Sjoratt, being vol. viii. of the Corpus furls Sueco-Gotorum Antiqui (Lund, 1853); and The Black Book of the Admiralty, ed. by Sir Travers See also:Twiss (4 vols., London, 1871-1876) . An exhaustivelycritical edition of the Rhodian sea law (given in vol. i. of Pardessus) by W . Ashburner, appeared in 1909 (Oxford, University Press) . It contains valuable material not only on the Rhodian sea law, but on the various other sea laws in force on the Mediterranean See also:coast . See also:SEAL-See also:FISHERIES . See also:Seals of all descriptions (see SEAL)—whether belonging to the typical See also:family Phocidae, or true seals, or to the Otariidae, or sea-lions and sea-bears—are of See also:great commercial value . Whereas, however, the true seals and the sea-lions are hunted only for the See also:sake of their hides and blubber, the sea-bears are sought on account of their valuable " seal skin (see See also:CARNIVORA; also See also:FuR) . Walruses (Odobaenidae) are hunted not only for their hides and blubber but also for the See also:ivory of their tusks, which is, however, far less valuable than See also:elephant-ivory .

Among the more important See also:

species of sea-bears or fur-seals, which yield commercial " seal-skin," may be mentioned Otaria (Arctocephalus) australis of See also:South See also:America and the adjacent islands, including the Galapagos See also:group and Tierra-del-Fuego; O . (A.) antarctica or pusilla of South See also:Africa and the Crozets; O . (A.) gazella of Kerguelen Island; and O . (A.) Forsteri of the coasts of New Zealand and South-Western See also:Australia . This group was widely distributed over the pelagic islands of the See also:southern hemisphere, but is now practically See also:extinct in the greater part of its See also:habitat, although remnants of importance exist on Lobos Island in the mouth of the See also:river See also:Plata in See also:Uruguay, and on the islands off Cape See also:Horn, both of which now receive See also:protection from government . A second group is represented by Otaria (Callorhinus) ursina of the See also:Commander Islands and Pribiloff Islands in See also:Bering Sea, Robben Island and the Kurile Islands, Sea of See also:Okhotsk, and other parts of the North Pacific; the forms from the different islands having received distinct specific names . Of the southern herds little See also:authentic See also:information exists, but the records for the northern herds are fairly See also:complete . At the See also:period of its maximum development, 187o to 188o, the See also:herd of the Pribiloff Islands numbered about 21 million animals; that of the Commander Islands about one-See also:half as many . The herd in the Sea of Okhotsk is one of minor importance, numbering in 1897 less than r000 animals on Robben Island . All these herds became greatly reduced, and in 1896-1897 numbered in all not more than 600,000 animals . The typical adult male or See also:bull (sikatch) of the second group attains maturity about the seventh year, and weighs from 400 to 500 lb . It is 6 ft. in length, with a girth of 41 ft .

Phoenix-squares

The fur is blackish or dark See also:

brown, with long yellowish-See also:white hairs, especially long and See also:firm on the back of the See also:neck, forming the so-called " See also:wig " or mane . The See also:animal stands erect and runs or " lollops " along the ground when on land . The adult See also:female, or cow (matka), is much smaller, averaging about 8o lb in See also:weight, with length and girth in See also:pro-portion . The fur is of varying shades of brown; she bears her first See also:young at the See also:age of three years . The breeding-grounds are See also:boulder-strewn beaches or rocky See also:hill slopes near the See also:shore . On these the sea-bears congregate in See also:close-set masses called " rookeries." The unit of rookery See also:life is the family group, or " See also:harem," each bull See also:collecting as many See also:females as he can See also:control . The number ranges from 1 to too or more, averaging about 30 . The bulls reach the islands early in May and take up their places . The cows begin to arrive the first See also:week in See also:June . The number on the rookeries from day to day grows steadily to a See also:climax about the middle of See also:July, when about one-half are See also:present, the number actually on the ground diminishing to about one-See also:fourth at and after the close of the breeding See also:season with the end of July . The single young, or pup (kotik), weighing io to 12 lb and See also:jet black in See also:colour, is See also:born within six to forty-eight See also:hours after the arrival of the cow . Within a week the latter is served by the bull, and by the end of another week she goes to sea to feed, returning at gradually lengthening intervals through the summer to nourish her young, See also:left in the meantime to care for itself on the rookeries .

The bulls, having fasted since their arrival in May, go away in See also:

August to feed . The pups learn to swim at the age of a See also:month or six See also:weeks, and in See also:November, with the approach of See also:winter, swim away with their mothers to the south . The winter See also:migration of the 538 Pribiloff seals extends as far south as the See also:latitude of southern See also:California, the return course following the coast . The Commander seals reach the latitude of southern See also:Japan and return on their course . The fur-seals find their See also:food, chiefly squid, See also:Alaska See also:pollack, and especially a small See also:smelt-like See also:fish (Therobromus callorhini), in deep water, and their feeding-grounds in Bering Sea and on the migrations See also:lie mainly along the 1oofathom See also:curve . The Commander Islands were discovered by See also:Vitus Bering in 1741, and our first knowledge of the northern fur-seal herds comes from the notes of Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German naturalist accompanying Bering's expedition . The Pribiloff Islands were discovered in 1786 and transferred with the territory of Alaska to the See also:United States in 1867 . Up to 1867 the catch taken by the See also:Russian See also:Company holding the Alaska See also:monopoly was about 75,000 yearly . Between 1868 and 1