Cinque Ports Act 1821

III Commissioners to be paid by the Owners, &c. for their Trouble such Fees as shall be allowed by the Lord Warden. No Commissioner shall act out of the Place where he is resident. Commissioners to take the following Oath.

And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Commissioners to be appointed, and their Secretary or Register as aforesaid, who shall decide on any such Claims or Demands as aforesaid, to demand and receive of and from, the Owners of such Ships or Vessels, or the Proprietors of any such Goods or Merchandizes, against whom any Pilot, Boatman, or other Person shall make any Claim or Demand for Services of any Sort rendered to such Ships of Vessels, or for the sole saving arid preserving any Goods or Merchandizes wrecked, stranded, or cast away within the Jurisdiction aforesaid; and such Owners and Proprietors are hereby required to pay to them such Fee or Reward for deciding on every such Claim and Demand, as shall be adjudged to them in that Behalf by the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports for the Time being: Provided always, that no Person to be appointed a Commissioner by virtue of this Act shall have Power or Authority to act in any other Port or Place than that in which he is resident, or from which his usual Place of Residence is not distant more than One Mile; and that before such Commissioners shall in any Case proceed to act, they shall severally take the following Oath before a Magistrate or a Commissioner of the Court of King's Bench or Common Pleas, or a Master Extraordinary in Chancery; (videlicet,)

“I A.B. do swear, That I have riot, neither will I in any way, directly or indirectly, take or receive any Fee; Emolument, or Reward, from any of the Parties whose Interests are referred to my Decision (save and except such Fee Or Reward as shall be allowed by the Lord Warden to be paid to the by the Ship Owners of Proprietors of the Cargo, of their Agents); arid that I will not accept of receive any Fee whatever from the Persons claiming Reward of Salvage but that I will decide according to the best of my Judgment, on the Evidence to be brought before me, without Favour or Affection to either Party.       So help me GOD.”