3 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.U.K.
It shall be lawful for the commissioners so 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 or vessels, or for the sole saving and preserving any goods or merchandizes wrecked, stranded, or castaway 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 not, 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 me by the ship owners or proprietors of the cargo, or their agents); and that I will not accept or receive any fee whatever from the persons claiming reward or 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.’