tonnage

tonnage' was a well-understood commercial term signifying in America the internal cubic capacity of a vessel.

The capacity of a ship or vessel; the duties paid on the tonnage of a ship. This term is most usually applied to the capacity of a vessel in tons, as determined by the legal mode of measurement; and, as a general rule, in the United States, the official tonnage of vessel is For the rule for determining the tonnage of British vessels under the law of England, see Mc Culloch, "Tonnage;" Eng. Merch, Shipp. Act 1854, §§ 20-29. In the United States it is provided that the tonnage of a vessel shall be her entire internal cubic capacity in tons of one hundred cubic feet each, to be ascertained in the manner prescribed by the statute. Rev. St. U. S. § 4153.

The capacity of a ship or vessel. This term la most usually applied to the capacity of a vessel In tons as determined by the legal as a general rule, in the United States the official tonnage of a vessel is considerably below the actual capacity of the vessel to carry freight. Roberts v. Opdyke, 40 N. Y. 259. The duties paid on the tonnage of a ship or vessel. For the rule for determining tonnage In the United States, see R. S. § 4150 et seq.,* 3 U. S. Comp. St. 2812, and amendments in Suppt. (1911) 1190. A foreign built vessel purchased by a citizen of the United States and brought Into the waters thereof was held not taxable under the tariff laws of the United States; The Conqueror, 166 U. S. 110, 17 Sup. Ct. 610, 41 L. Ed. 937. The tariff act of August 5, 1909, imposed an annual tonnage tax of $7 per gross ton on foreign-built yachts and pleasure boats, owned or chartered for more than six months by citizens of the United States, which could be commuted by paying a duty of 35 per cent, ad valorem. It was held that this tax was an excise, not on the actual use, but on the privilege of using, and was collectible If a yacht had been out of commission during the entire preceding year. But it must be shown that a foreign-built yacht had been used, to some extent at least, in the United States, especially where the owner, although a citizen of the United States, was domiciled in a foreign country. The tax is imposed on the owners of yachts, etc., or on charterers for a period of more than six mouths; U. S. v. Billings, 190 Fed. 359 (an opinion covering five cases). Four of these cases were before the supreme court and the judgments were affirmed, except that It was held that there was no liability where the yacht (which was laid up at Brooklyn) had not been used at all during the preceding year; Billings v. U. S., 232 U. S. 261, 34 Sup. Ct. 421, 58 L. Ed. —; U. S. v. Billings, 232 U. S. 289, 34 Sup. Ct 4-8, 58 L. Ed. —; Pierce v. U. S., 232 U. S. 290, 34 Sup. Ct. 427, 58 L. Ed. —; U. S. v. Goelet, 232 U. S. 293, 34 Sup. Ct. 431, 58 L. Ed. —. The act was repealed by the tariff act of Oct. 3, 1913. In U. S. v. Blair, 190 Fed. 372, it was held that a yacht which had burned and sunk, and been expensively repaired, remained “foreign-built." The constitution provides, art. 1, 8. 10, n. 2, that no state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any duty on tonnage; State Tonnage Tax Cases, 12 Wall. (U. S.) 204, 20 L. Ed. 370; Inman S. S. Co. v. Tinker, 94 U. S. 238, 24 L. Ed. 118. But a municipal corporation situated on a navigable river can, consistently with the constitution of the United States, charge and collect from the owner of licensed steamboats, which moor at a wharf constructed by it, wharfage proportioned to their tonnage; Keokuk

As applied to vessels, capacity in tons of one thousand cubic feet each. Tonnage tax: a duty on tonnage; a duty levied on vessels according to their tonnage.

mar. law, is the capacity of a ship or vessel. The act of congress of March 2, 1799, s. 64, 1 Story’s L. U. 8S. 630, directs that to ascertain the tonnage of any ship or vessel, the surveyor, &c. shall, if the said ship or vessel be double decked, take the length thereof from the forepart of the main stem, to the afterpart of the stern post, above the upper deck, the breadth thereof, at the broadest part above the mainwales, half of which breadth shall be accounted the depth of such vessel, and then deduct from the length three-fifths of the breadth, multiply the remainder by the breadth and the product of the depth, and shall divide this last product by ninety-five, the quotients whereof shall be deemed the true contents or tonnage of such ship or vessel. And if such ship or vessel shal] be single decked, the said surveyor shall take the length and breadth as above directed, in respect to a double deck ship or vessel, and shall deduct from the length three-fifths of the breadth, and taking the depth from the underside of the deck plank to the ceiling be deemed the tonnage of. such ship or vessel. The duties paid on the tonnage of a ship or vessel are also called ¢tonnage. ‘These duties are altogether abolished in relation to American vessels by the act of May 31, 1830, s. 1, 4 Story’s Laws U. S. 2216. And by the second section of the same act, all tonnage duties on foreign vessels are abolished, provided the president of the United States shall be satisfied that the discriminating or countervailing duties of such foreign nation, so far as they rate to the disadvantage of the nited States, have been abolished. The constitution of the United States provides, art. 1, s. 10, n. 2, that no state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any duty on tonnage.