Posted by John Nichols on February 01, 2005 at 14:13:44 from 165.91.196.13 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Re: Cruising the Thames posted by Laurence Monkhouse on February 01, 2005 at 11:49:41:
There is a significant body of case law about boats for hire in London and the problems that they caused. The Book is by Angel(?) and dates from about 1850. It covers the law at the time.
I gather from reading the book - which I had to do for a case in Australia - that the London Bridge was very dangerous to run in a boat and there were accidents. If you killed somone in your boat the fine was loss of the boat to the government.
Th other interesting tidbit was that there were collectors of bodies in the Thames, they got paid more for a suicide body than a drowned body. (No. I am not sure how you tell the difference - but I would not rely on published rates for suicides for that time. As there would be a nice incentive to claim them all as suicides.)
John