, and compel them to make restitution[q]. And by statute 12 Ann.
st. 2. c. 18. confirmed by 4 Geo. I. c. 12. in order to assist the
distressed, and prevent the scandalous illegal practices on some of
our sea coasts, (too similar to those on the Baltic) it is enacted,
that all head-officers and others of towns near the sea shall, upon
application made to them, summon as many hands as are necessary, and
send them to the relief of any ship in distress, on forfeiture of
100_l._ and, in case of assistance given, salvage shall be paid by the
owners, to be assessed by three neighbouring justices. All persons
that secrete any goods shall forfeit their treble value: and if they
wilfully do any act whereby the ship is lost or destroyed, by making
holes in her, stealing her pumps, or otherwise, they are guilty of
felony, without benefit of clergy. Lastly, by the statute 26 Geo. II.
c. 19. plundering any vessel either in distress, or wrecked, and
whether any living creature be on board or not, (for, whether wreck or
otherwise, it is clearly not the property of the populace) such
plundering, I say, or preventing the escape of any person that
endeavors to save his life, or wounding him with intent to destroy
him, or putting out false lights in order to bring any vessel into
danger, are all declared to be capital felonies; in like manner as the
destroying trees, steeples, or other stated seamarks, is punished by
the statute 8 Eliz. c. 13. with a forfeiture of 200_l._ Moreover, by
the statute of George II, pilfering any goods cast ashore is declared
to be petty larceny; and many other salutary regulations are made, for
the more effectually preserving ships of any nation in distress[r].

[Footnote p: Stiernh. _de jure Sueon._ _l._ 3. _c._ 5.]

[Footnote q: F.N.B. 112.]

[Footnote r: By the civil law, to destroy persons shipwrecked, or
prevent their saving the ship, is capital. And to steal even a plank
from a vessel in distress, or wrecked, makes the party liable to
answer for the whole ship and cargo. (_Ff._ 47. 9. 3.) The laws also
of the Wisigoths, and the most early Neapolitan constitutions,
punished with the utmost severity all those who neglected to assist
any ship in distress, or plundered any goods cast on shore.
(Lindenbrog. _Cod. LL. antiq._ 146. 715.)]

XII. A TWELFTH branch of the royal revenue, the right to mines, has
it's original from the king's prerogative of coinage, in order to
supply him with materials: and theref