Port

A place to which the officers of the customs are appropriated, and which includes the privileges and guidance of all members and creeks which are allotted to them. 1 Chitty, Com. Law 72G; Postlewaith, Com. Diet. According to Dalloz, a port is a place within land, protected against the waves and winds and affording to vessels a place of safety. By the Roman law a port is defined to be locus conclusus quo importantur mcrces et unde exportantur. Dig. 50. mous with district, when the limits of the port and district are the same; Ayer v. Thacher, 3 Mas. 153, Fed. Cas. No. 684. As used in the R. S. § 4347 it means any place from which merchandise may be shipped. A port differs from a haven, and includes something more. First, it is a place at which vessels may arrive and discharge or take in their cargoes. Second, it comprehends a ville, city, or borough, called in Latin caput coryus, for the reception of mariners and merchants, for securing the goods and bringing them to market, and for victualling the ships. Third, it is Impressed with its legal character by the civil authority. Hale, de Portibus Mar. c.

2; 1 Hargr. Tracts 4G, 73; Bac. Abr. Prerogative (D 5); Com. Dig. Navigation (Id); Co. 4th hist. 148; 2 Chitty, Com. L. 2; Dig. 50. 36. 59; 43. 12. 1. 13; 47. 10. 15. 7; 39. 4. 15.

The exact meaning of the term was considered by Ivord Esher, M. R., in 35 Q. B. D. 580. He held that it was not usually the legal port as defined by acts of Parliament, hut, “a place of safety for the ship and goods, whilst the goods are being loaded aud unloaded”; that there never would he a port in the ordinary business sense of the ivonl, unless there was some element of safety in it for the ship and goods, and that nothing was more certain to be such a port than a natural port; that a natural port was “a * place in which the conformation of the land with regard to the sea is such that, if you get your ship within certain limits, she is in a place of safety for loading and unloading”; that any place at which the loading and unloading took place might safely be inferred to be within “the port,” as understood by the parties; that beyond the place of loading and unloading, the port would extend to any further space over which the court authorities were in the habit of exercising ‘‘port discipline” In L. R. 4 Ex. 238, 245, Byles, J., said: “The passage from Lord Hale, de Port thus Maris (ch. 2, p. 46), shows that the limits of a port may depend on the existence of wharves, quays, buildings, and other conveniences. It may accordingly, from time to time, vary and increase with the increase of population and of buildings. Lord Ilale further says: “The port of London anciently extended to Greenwich in the time of Edward I. and Gravesend is a member of it. The extent of a port therefore after a lapse of years may become a question of fact.” In the same case below the meaning of “port” generally was considered by Martin, B.; L. R. 3 Ex. 330, 345. See Home Pout; Domestic Port.