Does the declaration of the shipmaster preclude the owners from bringing contrary evidence?
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A ship being declared prize, because the loading of salt belonged to a Frenchman, the skipper and steersman having declared upon oath, that the loading was taken in at the Rotchel upon the account of the said person; the adjudication was quarrelled by a reduction, upon diverse reasons; and in special these, that the deposition of the skipper and steersman were forced and extorted from them; and it was offered to be proved that it did appear by diverse letters, certificates, and documents produced, that the loading did belong to the owners of the ship, who were citizens of Dantzic and Hamburgh, and were not the King's enemies.
The Lords, in this process, found, that the owners may be heard to reduce the sentence upon reasons omitted by the skipper. 2do, It being debated amongst the Lords, whether the skipper's declaration should so prejudge and conclude the owners that they should not be heard thereafter to prove that the loading belonged to them, some thought it hard that the skipper's fraud or mistake should prejudge the owners; but because, in the case, there was no ground to presume that the skipper and steersman did intend to prejudge or wrong the owners, and the writs and certificates produced were all after the seizure; and the letters, which were of anterior dates, might have been made up, and were all from persons concerned; and there were no documents found in the ship that could clear that the loading did belong to the owners
The Lords sustained the sentence, unless the pursuer would qualify force and violence, and that the depositions were extorted.
