FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 14 Short title.

	[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Search] [Feedback]
	Northern Irish Legislation
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Northern Irish Legislation >> FISHERIES ACT 1891

[Index] [Table] [Search] [Notes] [Noteup] [Previous] [Download] [Help]

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 14

Short title.

14. This Act may be cited as the Fisheries Act, 1891.

The Government of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland and the Government of His Majesty the King of the Belgians, being
desirous of simplifying the procedure for the settlement of differences
between British and Belgian fishermen in the North Sea outside territorial
waters, and of reducing as much as possible the injuries they may sustain from
the fouling of their fishing gear, have agreed upon the following provisions:

Whenever a complaint involving a claim for damages shall be preferred by a
fisherman of one of the two countries against a fisherman of the other
country, it shall be referred for preliminary inquiryin Belgium, to a
Commission composed of, at least, two officers appointed by the Minister of
Railways, Posts, and Telegraphs; in the United Kingdom, to a Commission also
composed of, at least, two officers appointed by the Board of Trade; these
officers shall hold their inquiry at the place where the allegations of the
complainants can most easily be verified.

No complaint shall be transmitted either to the British or to the Belgian
Government, as the case may be, unless:

1.The Commission has recognized it as well founded;

2.Such fishermen as are specified by the Commission engage themselves to
appear in person in case they should be summoned to give evidence.

The complaints must be accompanied by

1.A Report from the Commission of Inquiry;

2.A certificate from this Commission, verifying the ownership of the lost or
injured fishing gear;

3.A certificate of an expert nominated (as the case may be), in the United
Kingdom by the Board of Trade, in Belgium by the Minister of Railways, Posts,
and Telegraphs, and giving an estimate of the damages in money value.

These certificates must be forwarded through the proper diplomatic channel,
and shall be received as evidence unless the contrary is proved.

When a fisherman fouls or otherwise interferes with the fishing gear of
another fisherman he shall take all necessary measures for reducing to a
minimum the injuries which may result to the gear or to the boat of the other
fisherman.

In the Kingdom of Belgium the tribunal which has cognizance of an infraction
of the North Sea Fisheries Convention of the 6th May 1882, or of Article 4 of
the present Declaration, shall be empowered to award damages for injury to
person or property at the request of the injured party and at the suit of the
Official Prosecutor.

The execution of awards of damages shall be effected, on the application of
the Official Prosecutor, by the competent Administration, which will advance
the costs and recover them from the condemned parties according to the usual
process of law in such cases.

In the United Kingdom the Court before which proceedings are taken for the
above-mentioned infractions shall be empowered, at the suit of the Official
Prosecutor on the request of the injured party, to award damages for injury to
person or property, and the Official Prosecutor shall, at his own cost,
recover the sum so awarded, or so much thereof as is possible, from the
parties liable.

The amount of damages recovered, as stipulated above, shall be remitted free
of cost to the injured party through the proper diplomatic channel.

The High Contracting Parties engage to take, or to propose to their respective
Legislatures, the necessary measures for insuring the execution of the present
Declaration, and expecially for punishing, either by fine or imprisonment, or
both, persons who may contravene Article IV.

The present Declaration shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be
exchanged at Brussels as soon as possible.

The present Declaration shall come into force at a date to be agreed upon
subsequently by the High Contracting Parties.

It shall remain in force for three years from that date, and in the event of
neither of the High Contracting Parties having notified twelve months before
the expiry of the said period of three years their intention of terminating
it, shall continue to remain in force for a year, and so on from year to year.

In witness whereof the undersigned Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary at Brussels of Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, and the undersigned Minister for Foreign Affairs of
His Majesty the King of the Belgians, have drawn up the present Declaration in
duplicate, and have affixed thereto the seals of their arms.

Done at Brussels, the 2nd May 1891.

VIVIAN.

Le Prince DE CHIMAY.

[Index] [Table] [Search] [Notes] [Noteup] [Previous] [Download] [Help]

BAILII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback
URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/fa1891110/s14.html

Northern Irish Legislation

FISHERIES ACT 1891 - SECT 14