MERCHANT SHIPPING CASUALTIES RULES

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 234.11

MERCHANT SHIPPING CASUALTIES RULES

13th August, 1974

LEGAL NOTICE 94 of 1974.

The title of these rules is Merchant Shipping Casualties

Rules.

FORMS

Form No. 1: Notice of Investigation

Rule 4(2)

To ............................................. master, mate, engineer, etc., of

.................................... or ................................. belonging to the

ship .......................... of ............................... .

I hereby give you notice that the Court of Magistrates has

ordered a formal investigation into the circumstances attending the

.......................................... and that subjoined hereto is a copy of a

report (or statement of the case) upon which the said investigation

has been ordered. I further give you notice to produce to the Court

your certificate, the log-books of the vessel and any other

documents relevant to this case, which may be in your possession.

I have further to give you notice that on the information at

present obtained the questions annexed hereto are those upon which

it appears desirable, and upon which the undersigned proposes to

take the opinion of the Court; but these questions will be subject to

alteration, addition, omission or amendment by the undersigned at

the investigation after the witnesses called by him have been

examined.

Dated this ................ day of ......................., ............. .

Inquiring Officer.

Form No. 2: Report of Court

Rule 7(13)

In the matter of a formal investigation held at .............................

on the ...................................... (here state all the days on which

the Court sat) days of ...................., .............., before ....................,

assisted by .................................................. into the circumstances

attending the ............................................................ .

The Court, having carefully inquired into the circumstances

attending the abovementioned shipping casualty, finds, for the

reasons stated in the annex hereto, that the (here state finding of the

Court).

Dated this ............... day of ......................, ............. .

Magistrate

We (or I) concur in the above report.

Assessor

Assessor

Annex to the Report

(Here state fully the circumstances of the case, the causes of the

casualty, and the conduct of any persons implicated therein, and

whether the certificate of any offlcer is either suspended or

cancelled, and, if so, for what reasons).

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires -

"the Act" means the Merchant Shipping Act;

"Court" means the Court of Magistrates;

"inquiring officer" means the person appointed by the Minister to

hold a preliminary inquiry under article 313 of the Act;

"investigation" means a formal investigation into a shipping

casualty held under article 314 of the Act;

"Minister" has the same meaning as is assigned to it in the Act.

Rule 10(2)

Class I - Masters

Holders of a certificate of competency as Master of an

ocean-going ship granted or recognised under article 93 or 94 of the

Act, with at least three years’ service in any certificated capacity

and two years service as a certificated Master in command of a

merchant ship.

Class II - Engineers

Holders of a certificate of competency as first-class engineer

granted or recognised under article 93 or 94 of the Act, with at least

three years’ service as an engineer in a merchant ship and two

years’ service as a chief engineer.

(1) Where no other provision is made by these rules, the

procedure is regulated by the laws ordinarily governing the

procedure of the Court when sitting as a Court of Criminal

Jurisdiction.

(2) Subpoenas to witnesses shall be issued by the inquiring

officer, and such subpoenas shall, as far as practicable, be in the

form used for summoning witnesses before the Court and shall be

subject to the same rules.

(1) When an investigation has been ordered the inquiring

officer may cause a notice, to be called a notice of investigation, to

be served upon the owner, master, and officers of the ship, as well

as upon any person who in his opinion ought to be served with such

notice.

(2) The notice shall contain a statement of the questions

which, on the information then in possession of the inquiring

officer, he intends to raise during the hearing of the investigaton,

and shall be in the Form No. 1 in the First Schedule, with such

modifications as circumstances may require.

(3) The inquiring officer may, at any time before the hearing

of the investigation, by a subsequent notice amend, add to, or omit

any of the questions specified in the notice of investigation.

(4) The inquiring officer, the owner, the master and any officer

of the ship or other person upon whom a notice of investigation has

been served, shall be deemed to be parties to the proceedings.

(5) Any person who shows, to the satisfaction of the Court,

that he has an interest in the investigation shall have a right to

appear, and any other person may by leave of the Court appear, and

such persons shall thereupon become parties to the proceedings.

Any party may give to the other party notice in writing to

produce any documents (saving all just exceptions) relating to the

matters in question, and which are in the possession or under the

control of such other party; and, if any such notice is not complied

with, secondary evidence of the contents of the documents may be

given by the party who gave the notice.

Affidavits and solemn declarations may, by leave of the

Court, be used as evidence at the hearing.

(1) Notwithstanding the absence of any of the parties upon

whom a notice of investigation has been served, the Court may

proceed with the investigation at the place and time appointed for

the holding of such investigation.

(2) The proceedings shall commence with the production of

witnesses by the inquiring officer and their examination by him.

(3) Such witnesses, after being examired by the inquiring

officer, may be cross-examined by the other parties in such order as

the Court may direct, and may then be re-examined by the said

officer.

(4) Questions asked and documents tendered as evidence in the

course of the examination of witnesses shall not be open to

objection merely on the grounds that they do or may raise questions

which are not contained in, or which vary from, the statement of the

case, or questions specified in the notice of investigation or

subsequent notices referred to in sub-rule 4(3).

(5) When the examination of the witnesses produced by the

inquiring officer has been concluded, the inquiring officer shall

state in Court the questions in reference to the casualty and to the

conduct of the officers of the ship or other persons connected

therewith upon which the opinion of the Court is desired, and, in

framing the questions for the opinion of the Court, the inquiring

officer may make such modifications in, additions to, or omissions

from the questions in the notice of investigation or subsequent

notices referred to in sub-rule 4(3) as, having regard to the

evidence which has been given, the inquiring officer may think fit.

(6) After the questions for the opinion of the Court have been

stated, the Court shall proceed to hear the parties to the

investigation, and determine upon the questions so stated.

(7) Each party to the investigation shall be entitled to address

the Court, either personally or through an advocate, to produce

witnesses, or recall any of the witnesses who have already been

examined for further examination, and generally to adduce

evidence.

(8) The parties shall be heard and their witnesses shall be

examined, cross-examined and re-examined in such order as the

Court may direct.

(9) Any of the parties may also, with the permission of the

Court, produce and examine further witnesses, who shall be subject

to cross-examination and re-examination.

(10) When the whole of the evidence in relation to the questions

for the opinion of the Court has been concluded, any of the parties

who desire so to do may address the Court upon the evidence.

(11) The Court may adjourn the investigation from time to time

and from place to place.

(12) The decision of the Court shall always be given in writing

and read in open court.

(13) At the conclusion of the investigation, the Court shall

report to the Prime Minister, and the report shall be in the Form No.

2 in the First Schedule, with such modifications as circumstances

may require.

(14) The Court may order that the costs and expenses of the

investigation, or any part thereof, be paid by any of the parties to

the proceedings.

An appeal from a decision of the Court made to the Court

of Appeal under article 325 of the Act shall be made according to

the following provisions of this rule

(a) the party intending to appeal shall within fifteen

working days, other than Saturdays, from the date on

which the decision is given by the Court, file before

such Court a notice of his intention to appeal and shall

serve on such of the other parties to the proceedings as

he may consider to be directly affected by the appeal a

copy such notice;

(b) such party shall, within fifteen working days, other

than Saturdays, of the filing of the notice referred to in

paragraph (a), file before the Court of Appeal an

application for the reversal or modification, as the case

may be, of the decision given by the first Court,

containing the general grounds of the appeal and shall

serve a copy of such application on all the other parties

referred to in the said paragraph (a) and the Registrar

of the Court of Appeal shall thereupon put the appeal

on the list for hearing on such date as the Court may

appoint;

(c) where the appeal is made by any party other than the

Minister, the appellant shall, before the appeal is

heard, give such security for the costs of the appeal, by

way of deposit of money or otherwise, in such an

amount as the Regi,strar of the Court of Appeal may

direct;

(d) the Court of Appeal may, if it thinks fit, order any

person, other than the parties served with a copy of the

application of appeal, to be added as a party or parties

to the proceedings for the purposes of the appeal, on

such terms with respect to costs and otherwise as the

said Court may think fit;

(e) the evidence taken before the Court from whose

decision the appeal is brought shall be proved before

the Court of Appeal by a copy of the notes of the Court

or by such other materials as the Court of Appeal

thinks expedient, and a copy of the evidence as well as

of the report to the Minister containing the decision

from which the appeal is brought shall be transmitted

by the Registrar of the first Court to the Registrar of

the Court of Appeal on the request of the latter after

the filing of the application to appeal;

(f)

the Court of Appeal shall have full power to receive

further evidence on questions of fact as well as with

respect to matters which have occurred since the date

of the decision from which the appeal is brought;

(g) the Court of Appeal shall have power to make such

order as to the whole or any part of the costs of and

occasioned by the appeal as the Court rnay think just;

(h) subject to the foregoing provisions of this rule, every

appeal shall be conducted under and in accordance

with the general rules and regulations applicable to

ordinary prcceedings before the Court of Appeal;

(i)

on the conclusion of an appeal, the Court of Appeal

shall give its decision in open court and shall send to

the Minister a report of the case in such form as the

said Court may think fit.

(1) Where the Minister directs a rehearing under article

325 of the Act, he shall cause such reasonable notice to be given to

the parties whom he considers to be affected by the re-hearing as

the circumstances af the case may, in the opinion of the Minister,

permit.

(2) The provisions laid dawn in rule 8(d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and

(i) shall apply to a re-hearing as if it were an appeal, and, where the

Court re-hearing the case is not the Court of Appeal, as if such

Court were the Court of Appeal.

(1) Subject to these rules, assessors for investigations into

shipping casualties shall be appointed by the Court out of a list of

persons for the time being approved by the Minister.

(2) If any investigation involves, or appears likely to involve,

any question as to the cancellation or suspension of the certificate

of a master, mate or engineer, there shall be appointed from the list

af assessors referred to in sub-rule (1) not less than two assessors

from Class I and Class II or from either of these classes described

in the Second Schedule.

(3) Subject to any special appointment or appointments which

the Court may think it expedient to make in any case where special

circumstances appear to it to require a departure from these rules,

saving in any case compliance with the requirements of sub-rule

(2), assessors shall be appointed as follows

(a) where the investigation involves, or appears likely to

involve, the cancellation or suspension of the

certificate of a master or mate, but not of an engineer,

two at least of the assessors shall be appointed from

Class I;

(b) where the investigation involves, or appears likely to

involve, the cancellation or suspension of the

certificate of an engineer, one at least of the assessors

shall be appointed from Class II.

The fees payable to the assessors appointed under rule 10

shall be fixed by the Court, having regard to the services performed

by them.