1 



ADJUTAGE. 



ADMIRAL. 



better opinion i that the adjustment is merely primd font evidence 

 agaiiut an insurer; to that where an adjustment hai taken place, and 

 the liability to par the loss U disputed, while the adjustment, without 

 further proof, will be sufficient to entitle the insured to recover in an 

 action on the policy, the underwriter will not be debarred from 

 "bowing facts which may hare the effect of relieving him from liability. 



(Arnould on the Lane of itarint /Marquee.) 



ADJl'T.MiK. or AJUTAGE, is a name given to a'tube, generally 

 not exceeding a few inches in length, which may be applied to a vessel 

 or reservoir, in order to facilitate the discharge of a fluid from such 

 vessel. [HTDBODTSAincs.] 



ADJUTANT. lre. . M,,, 



ADJUTAXT.GENERAL. J[ STA "' MILITARY.) 



ADMINISTRATION AND ADMINISTRATOR. An administrator 

 is a person appointed to administer or distribute the goods of a person 

 who has died without making a will. The right of appointment, which 

 had for centime* been lodged in the ordinary or bishop of the diocese, 

 has by a recent statute (20 ft 21 Viet c. 77) been transferred to the 

 Queen's Court of Probate. In very early times, the king, in his 

 character of pater patriot, wns supposed entitled in such a case to seize 

 upon the goods, in order to apply them to the burial of the deceased, 

 the payment of his debta, and the making of a provision for his family. 

 This power of the crown was doubtless abused ; for, by Magna Charta, 

 " if a freeman shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by 

 the hands of his near relations and friends, under the inspection of the 

 Church." This probably formed the foundation upon which the pre- 

 lates afterwards built their right to administer by their own hands the 

 goods of an intestate. At all events, the power of taking possession of 

 the goods of an intestate was, at a later period, transferred from the 

 crown to the bishops. The property was, in the first instance, placed 

 in the custody of the bishop of the diocese in which the intestate died; 

 and after the deduction of what were technically called partet rationa- 

 bila (two-thirds of the whole, which the law gave to the widow and 

 children), the remaining third part vested in the bishop upon trust to 

 distribute in charity to the poor, or in what were then termed " pious 

 uses," for the benefit of the soul of the deceased. This trust wan 

 greatly abused by the prelates, who unscrupulously converted the 

 whole residue of the property to the use of their order, without even 

 paying the just debta of the deceased ; to remedy which the statute of 

 Westminster the Second was passed in the reign of Edward I., pro- 

 viding that the debts of the deceased should be paid by the ordinary in 

 the same manner as if he had been an executor appointed by a will. 

 The remainder, after payment of debts, continued applicable to the 

 same uses as before. Farther to prevent abuse of the power still 

 retained by the ordinary, and to take the adminiiit.rat.inp entirely out of 

 his hands, the statute 31 Edward III. c. 2, directed the ordinary, in 

 case of intestacy, to depute " the nearest and most lawful friends " of 

 the deceased to administer his goods ; and these administrators are put 

 upon the same footing with regard to suits and to accounting, an 

 executors appointed by will. 



This is the origin of administrators : they were merely the officers 

 of the ordinary, appointed by him in pursuance of the statute, which 

 selects the nearest and most lawful friend of the deceased ; these words 

 being interpreted to denote the nearest relation by blood who is not 

 under any legal disability. The subsequent statute of 21 Henry VIII. 

 c. 6, enlarged the power of the ecclesiastical judge, and permitted him 

 to grant administration either to the widow or the next of kin, or to 

 both of them. Where several persons were equally near of kin, he was 

 empowered to select one at his discretion. If none of the kindred 

 were willing to administer, a creditor was permitted to do so ; and in 

 the absence of any person entitled to demand letters of administration, 

 the ordinary might appoint whomsoever he might think proper. The 

 powers and discretion of the ordinary are now vested in the judge of 

 the Court of Probate. 



Administrators may be nominated even in a case where a will has 

 been made, if by Uie will no executors are appointed, or if the persons 

 named refuse, or are not legally qualified to act. In these cases the 

 administrator only differs from an executor in the name of his office 

 and mode of his appointment. In practice, when the executor rtfutet, 

 administration is granted to the residuary legatee ; that in, to the person 

 to whom, by the will, the residue of the property, after payment of 

 debta and legacies, Is given. 



In the case of a complete intestacy, it was formerly much doubted 

 whether an administrator appointed under 31 Edward III. could bo 

 compelled to distribute the effects which remained in his hands after 

 payment of debta ; for though the administration had been transferred 

 from the ordinary to him, he stood in the same position as the former 

 had occupied, and was consequently not legally bound to administer. 

 The spiritual courts endeavoured to enforce distribution by taking 

 bonds from the administrator for that purpose, but these were declared 

 void by the common law court*. The Statute of Distributions (22 A 

 23 Charles II. c. 10), which now regulates these matte, enacts that 

 the surplus effect-, after payment of debta, (hall, after the expiration 

 of one year from the death of the intestate, be distributed in the 

 following manner : One-third to the widow, and the remainder in 

 equal proportions to the children of the intestate, or, if dead, to their 

 legal representative* that is, their lineal descendant* ; or, if there be 

 no children, or children's legal representatives, one moiety to the 



widow, and the other moiety to the next of kin, in equal degrees of 

 relationship, '"" to their representative* : if no widow, the whole to the 

 children or their representatives in equal portions : if neither widow 

 nor children, the whole amongst the next of kin or their repre- 

 H u' .',-- 



By the same statute, it is directed that no child of the intestate 

 (except it be his heir at law) on whom he settled in his lifetime any 

 estate in lands or pecuniary portion, equal to the distributive share of 

 the other children, shall have any part of the surplus to be adminis- 

 tered ; but if the estate given by way of advancement is not equivalent 

 to the others' share, the child so advanced shall have enough to put 

 him on an equality with his brothers and sisters. The 29 Charles II. 

 c. 3, gives administration to the husbands of women dying intestate. 



The Statute of Distributions expressly reserved the customs of the 

 city of London, of the province of York, and of all other places having 

 peculiar customs of distributing intestates' effects. These customs 

 have been abolished by the statute 19 & 20 Viet. c. 94, and the distri- 

 bution of the estates of intestates is thus rendered uniform throughout 

 England. (' Blackstone's Comm.' Mr. Kerr's ed. vol. ii. p. 554.) 



further information see EXECUTORS, and PROBATE, COCRT OF. 



ADMIRAL, the title of the highest class of naval officers. Various 

 fanciful etymologies of the word have been given ; but the word is said 

 to be merely a corruption of the Arabic Amir or Emir, a lord or chief- 

 tain. The al is the Arabic definite article al (the), without the noun to 

 which it belongs. Eutychius, patriarch of Alexandria, writing in the 

 10th century, calls the Caliph Omar A mini Mnmenim, which he trans- 

 lates into Latin Impemtar fiddium (Commander of the Faithful). To 

 form the word Admiral the first two terms of some title similar t<> tlii* 

 have been adopted, and the third has been dropped. From this it 

 appears that the word ought properly to be written, or rather ought at 

 first to have been written, Amiral, or Ammiral, as we find it in Milton's 

 expression : 



" The mat 

 Of tome gret Ammiral." 



Milton, holding to this principle of orthography, wrote in Latin 

 Aiininnilaifa Curia (Court of Admiralty). The French say Amiral, 

 and the Italians Ammiraylio. The d seems to have got into the 

 English word from a notion that Admiral was an abridgement of 

 Admirable. The Latin writers of the middle ages sometimes, appa- 

 rently from this conceit, style the commander of a fleet Admiraliilis, 

 and also Admiratut ; the Spaniards say Admiraxte or Almirantt. 



Under the Greek empire, the term Emir or Amir (Ajijjp) was used 

 most commonly to designate the governor of a province or district, 

 which was itself called AiaipaSmt. Gibbon states that the Emir of the 

 fleet was the third in rank of the officers of state presiding over the 

 navy ; the first being entitled the Urtat Duke, and .the second the 

 Great Drungairt, ('Decline and Fall," ch. liii.) The holy wars of tin- 

 12th and 13th centuries seem to have introduced the term Admiral 

 into Europe, The Admiral of Sicily is reckoned among the great 

 officers of state in that kingdom in the 12th century ; and the Genoese 

 had also their admiral very soon after this time. In France and 

 England the title appears to have been unknown till the latter part of 

 the 13th century : the year 1284 is commonly assigned as the date of 

 the appointment of the first French Admiral; and the Amiral de In 

 Mer du Roy d"Anylettrrt is first mentioned in records of the year 1297. 

 The person to whom the title is given in this instance is named William 

 de Leybourne. Yet at this time England, although she had an admiral, 

 had, properly speaking, no fleet ; the custom being for the king, when 

 he engaged in a naval expedition, to press into his sen-ice the merchant- 

 vessels from all ports of the kingdom, just as it is still the prerogative 

 of the crown to seize the men serving on board such vessels. This 

 circumstance is especially deserving of notice, as illustrating what an 

 admiral originally was. The King of England's Admiral of the Sea 

 was not necessarily the actual commander of the fleet ; he was rather 

 the great officer of state who presided generally over maritime affairs. 

 Sometimes he was not a professional person at all ; at other times ho 

 was one of the king's sons, or other near kinsman yet in his nonage, on 

 whom the office was' bestowed, as being one of great dignit 

 emolument ; the duties were performed by persons who acted in hi* 

 name. But these duties were usually not to command ships in battle, 

 but merely to superintend and direct the naval strength of the king- 

 dom, and to administer justice in all causes arising on the sean. The 

 former of these duties is now executed by tl "f govern- 



ment called the Admiralty, and the latter by the legal tribunal called 

 the High Court of Admiralty. 



Anciently, two or more admiral* used often to be appointed to exercise 

 their powers along different parta of the coast. Thus, in 1326, men- 

 tion is made of Admiral of the King's Fleet, from the mouth of the 

 Thames northward, and of another officer, with the same title, com- 

 manding from the mouth of the Thames westward. Besides these, 

 there were also Admirals of the Cinque Ports. There are still a vice- 

 admiral and a rear-admiral of the t'nitcd Kingdom, which places are 

 now sinecures, and are usually bestowed upon n-ival officers of high 

 Htanding and eminent services. They are appointed by royal j 

 and it U *aid would exercine the authority of the Lord High Admiral 

 in case of his death, until a successor was appointed. There is also a 

 vice-admiral of the coast of Yorkshire, a nominal office, usually given 



