Seamen - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition seamen

Definition :

Seamen, persons engaged in navigating ships, barges, etc., upon the high seas. Those employed for this purpose upon rivers, lakes, or canals are denominated watermen.

The (English) Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 and 1906 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 60, and 6 Edw. 7, c. 48), contain numerous and elaborate provisions. In Part II. of the Act of 1894 there are regulations as to engagement and discharge of seamen, and payment of their wages. The Act also (s. 168) gives power to a Court to rescind a contract between owner or master, and seaman or apprentice, where a proceeding is instituted in the Court in relation to a dispute between them, protects (ss. 212-219) seamen from imposition, and (ss. 198-210) protects them in the matter of provisions, health, and accommodation. As to seamen's allotment notes, see (English) Merchant Shipping (Seamen's Allotment) Act, 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 8). Part III. of the Act of 1906 deals with seamen's food, and Part IV. contains provisions for the relief and repatriation of distressed seamen.

Seamen are not within the (English) Employers' Liability Act, 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c. 42), but a rigger is (Chislett v. Macbeth & Co., 1910 AC 220). Seamen, however, are provided for in s. 35 of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5, c. 84), and as to the mode of estimating their earnings for the purpose of that Act, see Rosenqvist v. Bowring, (1908) 2 KB 108. As to the position of seamen under the National Health Insurance Act, 1936, see ss. 135-138, which makes special provision in relation to them, and NATIONAL INSURANCE.

See Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Shipping,' and as to seamen in the Royal Navy, see Naval Discipline Act, 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 109), and other Acts, and tit. NAVY.