descriptions of important recent harbor works will be found scattered through the proceedings of the various engineering societies and the engineering papers.
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).
HARBOR GRACE. A port of entry on the west side of Conception Bay, Newfoundland, 27 miles west by north of Saint John's; the second town of importance in the island (Map: Newfoundland, G 5). The harbor is large, but exposed; it has a patent slip 260 feet long, and the wharves are protected by the beach. The trade of Harbor Grace is nearly one-fourth of that of the entire island. Population, in 1891, 6467; in 1901, 5184.
HARBORING. In law, the act of receiving and retaining a person in violation of the rights of another or of the public. Harboring the wife of another after notice from the husband not to do so is an actionable wrong against him, unless such act is a proper one for her protection. So the harboring of an apprentice or servant, with knowledge of the latter's obligation to his master, is an actionable tort at common law. One who knowingly harbors a felon becomes at common law an accessory to the crime, while the intentional harborer of one who has committed a misdemeanor is himself guilty of a misdemeanor. An innkeeper who is accustomed to harbor thieves is indictable at common law for maintaining a public nuisance. Some modern statutes make it criminal for any one to harbor thieves; that is, to shelter them or permit them to congregate on his premises. Other statutes impose a penalty for harboring seamen, knowing them to belong to any vessel. Under such statutes, and generally, the offense of harboring does not necessarily involve the element of secrecy or concealment. It is committed by merely sheltering or entertaining the prohibited person or permitting him to take refuge under one's roof. See Accessory; Husband and Wife; Master and Servant; Parent and Child; and authorities there cited.
HAR′BORNE, William (c.1545-1617). An English traveler and diplomat, the first English Ambassador to Turkey, born at Yarmouth. In 1575 he was elected to Parliament, but was not allowed to take his seat, and in 1577 he went to Turkey. Five years afterwards he was appointed Ambassador to that country. The Turkey Company, formed in 1579, received, thanks to his efforts, larger privileges than those granted to any other nation. He left Constantinople in 1588, and died at Mundham. An account of his journey from Constantinople in 1588 was printed in Hakluyt's Collection of Voyages, as well as the description of his outward voyage.
HARBOR-SEAL. The common seal (Phoca vitulina) of all northern seas, which formerly frequented numerously all the bays and harbors of the Atlantic coast as far south as Virginia, but now is uncommon south of Nova Scotia. Stragglers, nevertheless, are still seen at long intervals in the Hudson, and even in the Delaware rivers, where they once regularly ascended as far as tidewater went. It is still numerous in the Saint Lawrence, and has been taken in Lake Champlain. The leopard seal of the Pacific Coast (south to Southern California) is the same, and has been known to ascend the Columbia 200 miles. This seal attains a total length of about
