The New International Encyclopædia/Harbor (judicially defined)

HARBOR. As judicially defined, a place to shelter ships from the violence of the sea, and where ships are brought for commercial purposes to load and unload goods and passengers. It includes quays or docks and other instrumentalities for the use and protection of ships. The term is generally considered a legal synonym for ‘haven’ and ‘port,’ although at times it is employed in a somewhat narrower sense than either of these terms. It is not necessary, to constitute a harbor, that it be landlocked or absolutely safe for ships. It is enough that it affords a reasonably safe place of retreat from winds and storms.

In Great Britain the right to construct or control harbors is vested in the Crown, but at present they are generally owned or managed by boards or commissions under special acts of Parliament. Even when an individual is the owner of a harbor, under a grant from the Crown or by proscription, he holds it subject to the right of the public to make use of it and of the State to control it. The Government has the power, also, of closing particular harbors or ports, either absolutely, or to certain lines of imports or exports. It has the power, too, of regulating all harbor fees and the conduct of business transacted in harbors. At present, the various boards or commissions are authorized by Parliament to make all needful regulations and, within certain limits, to fix the charges on goods and ships. It is their duty, on the other hand, to keep the harbors in a reasonably safe condition for those entitled to use them. If they do not, they are liable for any injury which results from their negligence. This rule does not obtain in harbors controlled directly by the Government, and known as the King's harbors. Here the maxim applies that “the King can do no wrong;” that is, the State cannot be sued without its consent for injuries due to its negligence.

In the United States the development and control of harbors are shared to some extent by the Federal and the State governments. Large appropriations are frequently made by Congress for the improvement and defense of harbors, and the Federal Government, under its power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, exercises a large degree of control over most ports. On the other hand, the ownership of docks, wharves, warehouses, and other harbor facilities afforded to commerce, is generally a matter of State legislation. Each State, too, has its pilot laws, its quarantine rules, and its harbor regulations, with which the Federal Government does not interfere, but which are subject to Federal laws so far as the subject—as quarantine, for example—is within the Federal jurisdiction.

A harbor master is a State official with extensive authority. He has power to regulate the times of landing, unloading, and loading vessels; to make room for such as need to be immediately accommodated by temporarily removing others; to collect harbor fees; to enforce obedience to his lawful orders, and, in certain cases, to settle disputes between the masters of vessels. In some States a board of harbor commissioners is provided for with large powers of control. Consult: Moore, History of the Foreshore and the Law Relating Thereto (London, 1888); United States Revised Statutes, Secs. 5244-5255; Birdseye, General Laws of New York—Navigation Law and New York Harbor (New York, 1901).