596. (1) Where the owner of any goods imported in any ship into Canada fails to make entry thereof or, having made entry, to land the goods or take delivery thereof, and to proceed therewith with all convenient speed, by the times mentioned in this Part, the owner of the ship may make entry of and land or unship the goods at the following times:

(a) if a time for the delivery of the goods is expressed in the charter party, bill of lading or agreement, at any time after the time so expressed; and

(b) if no time for the delivery of the goods is expressed in the charter party, bill of lading or agreement, at any time after the expiration of seventy-two hours, exclusive of a holiday, from the time of the report of the ship.

(2) Where the owner of a ship lands goods pursuant to this section, he shall place them, or cause them to be placed,

(a) if any wharf or warehouse is named in the charter party, bill of lading or agreement as the wharf or warehouse where the goods are to be placed and if they can be conveniently there received, on that wharf or in that warehouse; and

(b) in any other case, on some wharf or in some warehouse on or in which goods of a like nature are usually placed, the wharf or warehouse being, if the goods are dutiable, a wharf or warehouse duly approved by the Minister of National Revenue for the landing of dutiable goods.

(3) Where at any time before the goods are landed or unshipped the owner of the goods is ready and offers to land or take delivery of them, he shall be allowed to do so, and his entry shall in that case be preferred to any entry that may have been made by the owner of the ship.

(4) Where any goods are, for the purpose of convenience in assorting them, landed at the wharf where the ship is discharged, and the owner of the goods at the time of that landing has made entry and is ready and offers to take delivery thereof and to convey them to some other wharf or warehouse, the goods shall be assorted at landing, and shall, if demanded, be delivered to the owner thereof within twenty-four hours after assortment, and the expense of and consequent on that landing and assortment shall be borne by the owner of the ship.

(5) Where at any time before any goods are landed or unshipped the owner thereof has made entry for the landing and warehousing of them at any particular wharf or warehouse other than that at which the ship is discharging, and has offered and been ready to take delivery thereof, and the owner of the ship has failed to make that delivery, and has failed at the time of that offer to give to the owner of the goods correct information in respect of the time at which the goods can be delivered, the owner of the ship shall, before landing or unshipping the goods, pursuant to this section, give to the owner of the goods or the wharf or warehouse twenty-four hours notice in writing of his readiness to deliver the goods, and shall, if he lands or unships the goods without that notice, do so at his own risk and expense.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 666.

597. Where, at the time any goods are landed from a ship and placed in the custody of any person as a wharfinger or warehouseman, the owner of the ship gives to the wharfinger or warehouseman notice in writing that the goods are to remain subject to a lien for freight or other charges payable to the owner of the ship to an amount mentioned in the notice, the goods shall, in the hands of the wharfinger or warehouseman, continue to be subject to the same lien, if any, for those charges as they were subject to before their landing, and the wharfinger or warehouseman receiving them shall retain them until the lien is discharged, and shall, if he fails to do so, make good to the owner of the ship any loss thereby occasioned to him.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 667.

598. The lien for freight and other charges referred to in section 597 shall be discharged

(a) on the production to the wharfinger or warehouseman of a receipt for the amount claimed as due, and the delivery to the wharfinger or warehouseman of a copy thereof or of a release of freight from the owner of the ship, and

(b) on the deposit by the owner of the goods with the wharfinger or warehouseman of a sum of money equal in amount to the sum claimed by the owner of the ship,

but in the latter case the lien shall be discharged without prejudice to any other remedy that the owner of the ship may have for the recovery of the freight.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 668.

599. (1) When a deposit described in section 598 is made with a wharfinger or warehouseman, the person making the deposit may, within fifteen days after making it, give to the wharfinger or warehouseman notice in writing to retain it, stating in the notice the sums that he admits to be payable to the owner of the ship or that he does not admit any sum to be so payable, but if no notice is given, the wharfinger or warehouseman may, at the expiration of the fifteen days, pay the sum deposited over to the owner of the ship.

(2) Where a notice is given under subsection (1), the wharfinger or warehouseman shall immediately inform the owner of the ship of the notice, and shall pay or tender to him out of the sum deposited the sum, if any, admitted by the notice to be payable, and shall retain the balance or, if no sum is admitted to be payable, the whole of the sum deposited, for thirty days from the date of the notice.

(3) At the expiration of thirty days unless legal proceedings have been instituted by the owner of the ship against the owner of the goods to recover the balance or sum, or for the settlement of any dispute that may have arisen between them concerning the freight or other charges, and notice in writing of those proceedings has been served on the wharfinger or warehouseman, the wharfinger or warehouseman shall pay the balance or sum to the owner of the goods.

(4) A wharfinger or warehouseman is by any payment under this section discharged from all liability in respect thereof.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 669.

600. (1) Where the lien referred to in section 597 is not discharged and no deposit is made pursuant to section 598, the wharfinger or warehouseman may, and if required by the owner of the ship, shall, at the expiration of ninety days from the time when the goods were placed in his custody, or, if the goods are of a perishable nature, at such earlier period as in his discretion he thinks fit, sell by public auction, either for home use or for exportation, the goods or so much thereof as may be necessary to satisfy the charges mentioned in this Part.

(2) Before making the sale the wharfinger or warehouseman shall give notice thereof by advertisement in two local newspapers circulating in the neighbourhood, and, if the address of the owner of the goods has been stated on the manifest of the cargo, or on any of the documents that have come into the possession of the wharfinger or warehouseman, or is otherwise known to him, shall send notice of the sale to the owner of the goods by post.

(3) The title of a bona fide purchaser of the goods is not invalidated by reason of the omission to send the notice required by this section, nor is that purchaser bound to inquire whether the notice has been sent.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 670.

601. The proceeds of any sale referred to in section 600 shall be applied by the wharfinger or warehouseman as follows, and in the following order:

(a) if the goods are sold for home use, in payment of any customs or excise duties owing in respect thereof,

(b) in payment of the expenses of the sale,

(c) in payment of the charges of the wharfinger or warehouseman and the owner of the ship according to such priority as may be determined by the terms of the agreement, if any, in that behalf between them, or, if there is no agreement,

(i) in payment of the rent, rates and other charges due to the wharfinger or warehouseman in respect of the goods, and

(ii) in payment of the amount claimed by the owner of the ship as due for freight or other charges in respect of the goods,

and the surplus, if any, shall be paid to the owner of the goods.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 671.

602. Whenever any goods are placed in the custody of a wharfinger or warehouseman under the authority of this Part, the wharfinger or warehouseman is entitled to rent in respect of the goods, and has the power, at the expense of the owner of the goods, to do all such reasonable acts as in the judgment of the wharfinger or warehouseman are necessary for the proper custody and preservation of those goods, and has a lien thereon for the rent and expenses.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 672.

603. Nothing in this Part compels any wharfinger or warehouseman to take charge of any goods that he would not have been liable to take charge of if this Act had not been passed, nor is he bound to see to the validity of any lien claimed by any owner of a ship under this Part.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 673.

604. Nothing in this Part

(a) takes away or abridges any powers given by any special Act to any harbour commission whereby they are enabled to expedite the discharge of ships or the landing or delivery of goods; or

(b) takes away or diminishes any rights or remedies given to any owner of a ship or wharfinger or warehouseman by any Act.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 674.

605. Fines incurred or imposed under this Act may, except as otherwise provided by this Act, be recovered before a provincial court judge or two justices of the peace on summary conviction pursuant to the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to summary convictions.

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 605; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 203.

606. (1) Any judge of the Court of Quebec or Superior Court of the Province of Quebec, judge of the Superior Court of Justice in and for the Province of Ontario, judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia or British Columbia, judge of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland, judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta, or provincial court judge has, for the purposes of all proceedings under this Act, all the powers of two justices of the peace under the Criminal Code, and may try and determine in a summary way all offences punishable under this Act on summary conviction, whether by fine or imprisonment, or both.

(2) Any two justices of the peace have the same jurisdiction.

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 606; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (2nd Supp.), s. 10, c. 40 (4th Supp.), s. 2; 1990, c. 16, s. 21, c. 17, ss. 39, 47; 1992, c. 51, s. 64; 1998, c. 30, s. 12.

607. Words in this Act to the effect that a person is or shall be liable to a fine shall be construed as meaning that the person is guilty of an offence under this Act and, in the absence of any express provision relating to imprisonment in case of non-payment of any fine imposed under this Act, that on default of payment of any fine imposed under this Act, an offender may be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months unless the fine is sooner paid.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 677.

608. Subject to any special provisions of this Act, an offence under this Act or under any rule or regulation made pursuant to this Act that is declared to be an indictable offence or to be punishable on, by or under indictment

(a) is punishable by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; and

(b) may, instead of being prosecuted as an indictable offence, be prosecuted summarily in the manner provided by the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to summary convictions, and if so prosecuted the offence is punishable by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 678; 1976-77, c. 28, s. 40.

609. Subject to any special provisions of this Act, neither a conviction for an offence nor an order for payment of money shall be made under this Act in any summary proceeding instituted in Canada, unless

(a) that proceeding is commenced at any time within but not later than six months after the commission of the offence or after the cause of complaint arises, as the case may be; or

(b) if both or either of the parties to the proceeding happen during that time to be out of Canada, the proceeding is commenced, in the case of a summary conviction at any time within but not later than two months, and in the case of a summary order six months, after they both arrive, or are at one time, within Canada.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 680.

610. (1) For the purpose of giving jurisdiction under this Act, every offence shall be deemed to have been committed and every cause of complaint to have arisen either in the place in which the offence actually was committed or arose, or in any place in which the offender or person complained against may be.

(2) Where, in any legal proceeding under this Act, a question arises whether any ship or person is within the provisions of this Act or of some Part of this Act, the ship or person shall be deemed to be within those provisions unless the contrary is proved.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 681.

611. (1) Where any district within which any court, justice of the peace or provincial court judge has jurisdiction either under this Act or under any other Act or at common law, for any purpose whatever, is situated on the coast of any sea, or abutting on or projecting into any bay, channel, lake, river or other navigable water, the court, justice or provincial court judge has jurisdiction over any vessel being on, or lying or passing off, that coast, or being in or near that bay, channel, lake, river or navigable water, and over all persons on board that vessel or for the time being belonging thereto, in the same manner as if the vessel or persons were within the limits of the original jurisdiction of the court, justice or provincial court judge.

(2) The jurisdiction under this section is in addition to and not in derogation of any jurisdiction or power of a court under the Criminal Code.

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 611; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 203.

612. and 613. [Repealed, 1990, c. 44, s. 18]

614. (1) Whenever any injury has in any part of the world been caused to any property belonging to Her Majesty or to any of Her Majesty’s subjects by any foreign ship, and at any time thereafter that ship is found in Canadian waters, the Admiralty Court may, on being shown by any person applying summarily that the injury was probably caused by the misconduct or want of skill of the master or mariners of the ship, issue an order directed to any officer of customs or other officer named by the Court, requiring him to detain the ship until such time as the owner, master or consignee thereof has

(a) made satisfaction in respect of the injury, or

(b) given security to be approved by the Court, to abide the event of any action, suit or other legal proceeding that may be instituted in respect of the injury, and to pay all costs and damages that may be awarded thereon,

and any officer of customs or other officer to whom the order is directed shall detain the ship accordingly.

(2) Where it appears that, before an application can be made under this section, the ship in respect of which the application is to be made will have departed from Canadian waters, the ship may be detained for such time as will allow the application to be made and the result thereof to be communicated to the officer detaining the ship, and that officer is not liable for any costs or damages in respect of the detention unless the detention is proved to have been made without reasonable grounds.

(3) In any legal proceeding in relation to any injury referred to in subsection (1), the person giving security shall be made defendant and shall be stated to be the owner of the ship that has occasioned the damage, and the production of the order of the judge or Court, made in relation to the security, is conclusive evidence of the liability of the defendant to the proceeding.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 685; R.S., c. 10(2nd Supp.), s. 65.

615. (1) Whenever any complaint is made to any consular officer

(a) that any offence against property or a person has been committed at any place, either ashore or afloat, outside a Commonwealth country by any master, seaman or apprentice who at the time when the offence was committed, or within three months before that time, was employed in any Canadian ship, or

(b) that any offence on the high seas has been committed by any master, seaman or apprentice belonging to any ship so registered,

that consular officer may inquire into the case on oath, and may, if the case so requires, take any steps in his power for the purpose of placing the offender under the necessary restraint and of sending him as soon as practicable in safe custody to Canada.

(2) A consular officer may order the master of any ship registered in and bound to Canada to receive and afford a passage and subsistence during the voyage to any offender described in subsection (1), and to the witnesses, but the master is not required to receive more than one offender for every one hundred tons of his ship’s register tonnage, or more than one witness for every fifty tons of that tonnage.

(3) A consular officer has the right to endorse on the agreement of a ship such particulars with respect to any offenders or witnesses sent in the ship as the Minister requires.

(4) Any master of a ship to whose charge an offender has been committed shall, on his ship’s arrival in Canada, give the offender into the custody of some police officer or constable, and that officer or constable shall take the offender before a justice of the peace or provincial court judge by law empowered to deal with the matter, and the justice or provincial court judge shall deal with the matter as in cases of offences committed on the high seas.

(5) If any master of a Canadian ship, when required by any consular officer to receive and afford a passage and subsistence to any offender or witness, does not receive him and afford a passage and subsistence to him, or does not deliver any offender committed to his charge into the custody of some police officer or constable as required by this section, he is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars.

(6) The expense of imprisoning any offender under this Act and of conveying him and the witnesses to Canada in any manner other than in the ship to which they respectively belong shall, where not paid as part of the costs of the prosecution, be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament for that purpose.

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 615; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 203.

616. (1) Where a case of death happens on board any foreign-going Canadian ship, the shipping master at the port where the crew of the ship is discharged or any person appointed by the Minister for that purpose shall, on the arrival of the ship at that port, inquire into the cause of the death, and shall make in the official log-book of the ship an endorsement to the effect that the statement of the cause of death in the log-book is in his opinion true, or the contrary, according to the result of the inquiry.

(2) A shipping master or a person appointed by the Minister has, for the purpose of an inquiry under this section, the powers of an officer or person appointed to make a preliminary inquiry under Part VI, and if in the course of an inquiry it appears to the shipping master or person that a death has been caused on board the ship by violence or other improper means, he shall report the matter to the Minister, and, if the emergency of the case so requires, shall take immediate steps for bringing the offender or offenders to justice.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 687.

617. (1) Subject to subsection (2), whenever in the course of any legal proceeding instituted in Canada before any judge or provincial court judge, or before any person authorized by the law or by consent of parties to receive evidence, the testimony of any witness is required in relation to the subject-matter of that proceeding, on due proof that the witness cannot be found in Canada, any deposition that the witness may have previously made on oath in relation to the same subject-matter before any justice or magistrate in a Commonwealth country, or before any consular officer elsewhere, is admissible in evidence.

(2) If the deposition referred to in subsection (1) was made in Canada, it is not admissible in any proceeding instituted in Canada, and if the proceeding is criminal, it is not admissible, unless it was made in the presence of the person accused.

(3) A deposition referred to in subsection (1) shall be authenticated by the signature of the judge, magistrate or consular officer before whom it is made, and the judge, magistrate or consular officer shall certify, if it is so, that the accused was present at the taking thereof.

(4) It is not necessary in any case to prove the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed a deposition, and in any criminal proceeding a certificate under this section is, unless the contrary is proved, sufficient evidence that the accused was present in the manner thereby certified.

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 617; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 203.

618. (1) Where under this Act a ship is to be or may be detained, any commissioned officer on full pay in the naval, army or air service of Her Majesty or in the Canadian Forces, or any officer of customs may detain the ship.

(2) If the ship after detention or after service on the master of any notice of or order for detention proceeds to sea before it is released by competent authority, the master of the ship, the owner and any person who sends the ship to sea, if that owner or person is party or privy to the act, are guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars.

(3) Where a ship proceeding to sea takes to sea any officer authorized to detain the ship or any officer of customs, while the officer is on board in the execution of his duty, the owner and master of the ship are each guilty of an offence and liable to pay all expenses of and incidental to the officer being so taken to sea, and to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or, if the offence is not prosecuted in a summary manner, not exceeding fifty dollars for every day until the officer returns, or until such time as would enable him after leaving the ship to return to the port from which he is taken, and the expenses ordered to be paid may be recovered in like manner as the fine.

(4) Where under this Act a ship is to be detained an officer of customs shall, and where under this Act a ship may be detained an officer of customs may, refuse to clear that ship outward.

(5) Where any provision of this Act provides that a ship may be detained until any document is produced to the proper officer of customs, the “proper officer” means the officer who is able to grant a clearance or transire to the ship.

(6) This section does not apply to the detention of a ship pursuant to subsection 562.19(4), section 672 or subsection 724(2).

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 618; R.S., 1985, c. 6 (3rd Supp.), s. 81.

619. (1) Where a conviction has been secured against the owner of a ship for a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act and a fine has been imposed, the ship is, if the fine is not paid forthwith, liable to be seized and, after such reasonable notice as the Minister may in each case prescribe, may be sold by any chief officer of customs or any person authorized for that purpose in writing by the Minister, who may, by bill of sale, give to the purchaser a valid title to the ship free from any mortgage or other claim thereon that at the time of that sale may be in existence.

(2) Any surplus remaining from the proceeds of sale of a ship under subsection (1) after paying the amount of the fine and the costs of conviction, together with the costs of the seizure and sale, shall be paid over to the owner of the ship or the mortgagee, as the case may be.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 690.

620. Where any court, justice of the peace or provincial court judge has power to make an order directing payment to be made of any seaman’s wages, fines or other sums of money, if the party so directed to pay is the master or owner of a ship, and the payment is not at the time and in the manner prescribed in the order, the court, justice of the peace or provincial court judge who made the order may, in addition to any other powers he may have for the purpose of compelling payment, direct the amount remaining unpaid to be levied in distress or poinding and the sale of the ship, its tackle, furniture and apparel.

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 620; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 203.

621. The examination of any seaman liable to be obliged to leave the province in which any offence under this Act is prosecuted, or of any witness who is sick, infirm or about to leave that province, may be taken de bene esse before any commissioner or other proper authority, in the same manner as depositions in civil cases are taken.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 692.

622. The proceedings on any conviction or order shall not be stayed by reason of any application to remove that conviction or order to a superior court or of any notice of that application, unless the court or judge to whom the application is made or is to be made orders a stay of proceedings on special cause being shown.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 693.

623. Where there is no judge having jurisdiction in respect of writs of certiorari resident at or near the place where any conviction or order is made, in the Province of Ontario, a judge of the Superior Court of Justice in and for the Province of Ontario, in the Provinces of Nova Scotia and British Columbia, a judge of the Supreme Court, in the Province of Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland, a judge of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court, or, in the Province of New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta, a judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench, has power to hear and determine any application for a stay of proceedings on that conviction or order.

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 623; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (2nd Supp.), s. 10; 1990, c. 16, s. 22, c. 17, ss. 40, 47; 1992, c. 51, s. 65; 1998, c. 30, s. 12.

624. Every person charged under Part VI with an indictable offence may be indicted and prosecuted, and the venue may be laid, in any county or district.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 695.

625. Where any document is required by this Act to be executed in the presence of or to be attested by any witness or witnesses, that document may be proved by the evidence of any person who is able to bear witness to the requisite facts without calling the attesting witness or witnesses or any of them.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 696.

626. (1) Where a document is by this Act declared to be admissible in evidence, that document is, on its production from the proper custody, admissible in evidence in any court or before any person having by law or consent of parties authority to receive evidence, and, subject to all just exceptions, is evidence of the matters stated therein pursuant to this Act or by any officer in pursuance of his duties.

(2) A copy of any document described in subsection (1) or extract therefrom is admissible in evidence if proved to be an examined copy or extract, or if it purports to be signed and certified as a true copy or extract by the officer to whose custody the original document was entrusted, and that officer shall furnish the certified copy or extract to any person applying for it at a reasonable time.

(3) If any officer described in subsection (2) wilfully certifies any document as being a true copy or extract knowing that it is not a true copy or extract, he is guilty of an indictable offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for any term not exceeding eighteen months.

(4) Every person who forges the seal, stamp or signature of any document to which this section applies, or tenders in evidence any such document with a false or counterfeit seal, stamp, or signature thereto, knowing it to be false or counterfeit, is guilty of an indictable offence.

(5) Whenever any document to which this section applies has been admitted in evidence, the court or the person who admitted the document may on request direct that it be impounded and be kept in the custody of some officer of the court or other proper person for such period or subject to such conditions as the court or person thinks fit.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 697.

627. (1) Where for the purposes of this Act any document is to be served on any person, that document may be served

(a) in any case by delivering a copy thereof personally to the person to be served, or by leaving the copy at his latest known address;

(b) if the document is to be served on the master of a ship, where there is a master, or on a person belonging to a ship, by leaving the document on board that ship with the person being or appearing to be in command or charge of the ship; and

(c) if the document is to be served on the master of a ship, where there is no master, and the ship is in Canada, on the managing owner of the ship or, if there is no managing owner, on some agent of the owner residing in Canada, or where no such agent is known or can be found, by affixing a copy thereof to the mast of the ship.

(2) Every person who obstructs the service on the master of a ship of any document under the provisions of this Act relating to the detention of ships as unseaworthy is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars and, if the master or owner of the ship is party or privy to the obstruction, he is guilty of an indictable offence.

R.S., c. S-9, s. 698.

628. (1) Where a fine is imposed under this Act for which no specific application is provided, the court, justice of the peace or provincial court judge imposing the fine may direct that the whole or any portion of it may

(a) be applied in compensating any person for any wrong or damage that may have been sustained by the act or default in respect of which the fine is imposed;

(b) be applied in or toward payment of the expenses of the proceedings; or

(c) be paid to the provincial, municipal or local authority bearing in whole or in part the expense of prosecuting the contravention of this Act in respect of which the fine was imposed.

(2) Subject to any specific application provided under this Act, all fines under this Act shall, notwithstanding anything in any other Act, be paid to the Receiver General and deposited to the credit of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

R.S., 1985, c. S-9, s. 628; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 203.