Vessel - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition vessel

Definition :

Vessel, includes any ship, boat, sailing vessel or any other vessel of any description. [Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002, s. 2(w)]

Vessel, includes any ship, boat, sailing vessel, or other description of vessel used in navigation whether propelled by oars or otherwise and anything made for the conveyance, mainly by water, of human beings or of goods and a caisson. [Explosives Act, 1884 (IV of 1884), s. 4 (j)]

According to the General Clauses Act a 'ship' shall include a vessel of every description used in navigation and not exclusively propelled by oars. A vessel on the other hand is a ship or boat or any other description of vessel used for navigation. Therefore, a vessel which is exclusively propelled by oars would not fall within the definition of a ship but would be covered by the wider definition of a vessel. From these two definitions it cannot be inferred that a mechanically propelled vessel is not a boat for the simple reason that the definition of vessel is wide enough to include a ship which is mechanically propelled. Both the definitions are inclusive definitions and the definition of vessel is wide enough to include boats of every description, both mechanically propelled and those propelled exclusively by oars, Panduranga Timblo Industries v. Union of India, (1992) 2 SCC 635 (641). [General Clauses Act, 1897, s. 3(63)]

Vessel shall include any ship or boat or any other description of vessel used in navigation. [General Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897), s. 3(63)]

A ship, brig, sloop or other craft used, or capable of being used, to navigate on water, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1557.

Vessel, is wide enough to include boats of every description, both mechanically propelled and those propelled exclusively by oars, Panduranga Timbel Industries v. Union of India, AIR 1992 SC 1194: (1992) 2 SCC 635: (1992) 2 JT (SC) 277: AIR 1992 SCW 1158; Amarship Management Pvt. Ltd. v. Union of India, (1996) 3 Bom Cr 223.