The result of this remarkable decision was that foreigners, when incorporated, could own a ship, but not individually. In an extreme case, a ship might, ultimately, become the sole property of foreigners exclusively, and yet be entitled to be registered as a British ship, as a corporate body remains permanently. So that the law created the curious anomaly that a foreigner could not have a share in a British vessel, but might be the owner of all the shares of a corporate body which owned, for instance, the _Great Eastern_. Another difficulty arose with reference to the residence in or out of England of the owner of a ship. The Free-trade party contended that if a foreigner were disposed to come here and build a ship, there was no disadvantage either to British shipbuilders or British shipowners, or British sailors, especially as he could hold all the shares of a ship. On the other hand, it was contended that this was an extreme case, not likely often to occur, and the principle, if acted upon, of allowing individual ownership, might give considerable power to foreigners to the prejudice of British subjects; in fact, that the violation of this principle went to the very basis of the Navigation Law, which it would destroy. To such a point was real British ownership carried out, that, as the Act required owners of British ships to reside in the United Kingdom, the owner of a British registered ship, if he resided at Paris,[57] would lose his privileges as such. Other difficulties arose from the indefinite character of the law: thus, gin could be brought into England, but brandy could not, in _any_ foreign ships. American vessels could not bring corn from Holland; while, on the other hand, American corn landed in Holland could not be brought to England in a Bremen ship; and these difficulties were, in the case of corn, considerably increased by the difficulty of pronouncing upon the actual origin of the corn, as none but the most experienced dealers in grain could decide such a question, and, even with them, it must often have been mere guess work. A case occurred in which timber from Memel was sent to British North America, and, afterwards, brought to England at the low differential duty then existing. The law, at that time, permitted the produce of British possessions abroad to be imported, without its being described as _the produce_ of those possessions; a tolerated evasion, it is clear, of the Navigation Law. But in the case of a ship arriving from Hayti, bringing a cargo of Haytian produce, the master described his ship as a Swedish ship, there being, in point of fact, no Haytian ships. In this case, the goods were liable to forfeiture; but they were allowed to be warehoused for exportation, and the vessel was permitted to depart. A Swedish ship was clearly inadmissible under the 16th Section of the Navigation Act. [Sidenote: Naturalisation of goods brought to Europe.]