Law of Ship Mortgages
2
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Ownership and registration
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2.1 Legal ownership
2.1.1 Ships are personal property, the legal ownership of which is governed by the rules of common law as it may be modified by applicable statute. Legal ownership in ships may be acquired in the same manner as legal ownership is acquired in other personal property,1 e.g. under a will, by order of a court, by gift, pursuant to contract or by operation of insolvency law. In Hooper v Gumm,2 however, Turner LJ said:
A ship is not like an ordinary personal chattel; it does not pass by delivery, nor does the possession of it prove the title to it. There is no market overt for ships; in the case of American ships the laws of the United States provide the means of evidencing the title to them. In ordinary cases of purchases of property not purchased in market overt the purchasers are bound to inquire into the title to the property purchased by them.