93 



ADMIRALTY COURTS. 



ADMIRALTY COURTS. 



to a nobleman. It IB the opinion of some writers that the first 

 admiral of all England was appointed in the year 1387. Even the 

 officer bearing this title, however, was not then the person possessing 

 the highest maritime jurisdiction. Above him there was the King's 

 Lieutenant on the Sea (Locum tenens super mare). Also, before the 

 term Admiral was used at all, there was an officer designated the 

 Gustos Maris, or Guardian of the Sea. 



From the year 1405 (the sixth of Henry IV.) there is an uninter- 

 rupted series of Lord High Admirals of England, the office being 

 always held by an individual, till the 20th of November, 1632, when it 

 was for the first time put in commission : all the great officers of state 

 were the commissioners. During the Commonwealth, the affairs of 

 the navy were managed by a Committee of Parliament, till Cromwell 

 took the direction of them himself. On the Restoration, the king's 

 brother, the Duke of York, was appointed Lord High Admiral ; and he 

 retained the place till the 22nd of May 1684, when Charles took it 

 into his own hands. On the duke's accession to the throne, in the 

 beginning of the following year, he declared himself Lord High 

 Admiral. On the Revolution the office was again put in commission ; 

 and it continued to be held in this form till 1707, when Prince George 

 of Denmark was appointed Lord High Admiral, with a council of four 

 persons to assist him. On his death in November, 1708, the Earl of 

 Pembroke was appointed his successor, with a similar council. The 

 earl resigned the office in 1709, since which time, till now, it has 

 always been in commission, with the exception of the period of about 

 sixteen months (from May 1827, till September 1828), during which it 

 was held by King William IV., then Duke of Clarence. The Com- 

 missioners, styled the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, were 

 formerly seven, and are now six in number ; and the first lord is 

 always a member of the cabinet. It is the first lord, indeed, who 

 principally exercises the powers of the office. The patent constituting 

 the commission is issued by writ of privy seal, in the king's name, and 

 after mentioning the names of the commissioners, it appoints them to 

 be " our commissioners for executing the office of our High Admiral of 

 our said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the 

 dominions, islands, and territories thereunto belonging, and of our 

 High Admiral of Jamaica, Barbadoes, Saint Christopher, Nevis, Mont- 

 errat, Bermudas, and Antegoa, in America, and of Guiney, Binuy, and 

 Angola, in Africa, and of the islands and dominions thereof, and also 

 of all and singular our other foreign plantations, dominions, islands, 

 and territories whatsoever, and places thereunto belonging, during our 

 pleasure ; giving, and by these present* granting unto you, our said 

 commissioners, or any two or more of you, during our pleasure, full 

 power and authority to do, execute, exercise, and perform all and 

 every act, matter, and thing which do belong or appertain to the office 

 of our High Admiral," Ac., as well in those things which concern the 

 navy as in the things which concern " the right and jurisdiction " of 

 the High Admiral. 



Till the reign of Queen Anne the salary of the Lord High Admiral 

 was only 300 marks ; and the emoluments of the place, which w. re 

 very large, arose chiefly from perquisites, or droits, as they were called, 

 of various descriptions. Prince George of Denmark resigned all these 

 droit into the hands of the crown, and received in their stead a salary 

 of 7000J. a year. The salary of the First Lord is 45001., and his 

 official residence is the Admiralty, Whitehall. The salary of the junior 

 lords is 1000J., and they have official residences; or, in case of the 

 government not appropriating to them an official residence, a sum of 

 2001. is allowed instead. 



The title of Admiral is also given in modern times to naval officers 

 of the highest rank ; of which we have in England three classes, 

 namely, Admirals of the Red, of the White, and of the Blue. Admirals 

 bear their flag at the main top-gallant-mast head ; vice-admirals, at the 

 fore top-gallant-mast head ; and rear-admirals, at the mizen top-gallant- 

 mast head. After the union with Scotland in 1707, the use of the red 

 flag was discontinued, the union-jack being substituted for it ; but it 

 was resumed at the naval promotion which took place in 1805, after 

 the battle of Trafalgar. There are also vice-admirals and rear-admirals 

 of each flag, the former ranking with lieutenant-generals, and the 

 latter with major-generals in the army. A full admiral ranks with a 

 general, and an admiral who is actually the commander-in-chief of a 

 fleet with a field-marshal. The title of Admiral of the Fleet is merely 

 an honorary distinction. The sea-pay of the two admiral* of the fleet, 

 is 6/. per day ; admirals, HI. per day ; vice-admirals, 41. per day ; nud 

 rair-.-ulminils, 8Z. per day. In addition to this pay, every commander- 

 in-chief receive* .1 further sum of 31. per day while his flag shall be 

 flying within the limits of his station. 



There is no officer with the title of admiral in the navy of the 

 1 States of America (one has just (1869) had this rank and title 

 conferred for his life). The highest office is tliat of commodore, 

 which is jfiven to captains commanding on stations. 



A 1 1 M 1 U A I . T V ( ( ) I ' KTS, in Law, are courts having jurisdiction ovi-r 

 maritime causes, whether of a civil or criminal nature. In England, 

 tin- Court of Admiralty is held before the Lord High Admiral or hiw 

 deputy, who is the judge of the court : when there was a Lord High 

 Admiral, the judge of the Admiralty usually held his place by patent 

 from him ; but when the office of admiral is executed by commissioners, 

 he holds his place by commission under the great seal. 



The Court of Admiralty is usually called the Instance Court, to 



distinguish it from the Prize Court. The commissions to the judges 

 are perfectly distinct, but are usually given to the same person. The 

 Prize Court is only constituted n time of war. Neither is a Court of 

 Record. 



The Instance Court is usually held at Doctors'-Commons. The law 

 it administers is composed of such parts of the civil law as treat of 

 maritime affairs, together with the laws of Olerou and other maritime 

 laws, and such alterations or amendments as have been introduced by 

 Acts of Parliament, or usage which has received the sanction of legal 

 decision. Its practice has been improved and its jurisdiction extended 

 by the stat. 3 & 4 Viet. c. 65. An appeal from its judgments lies to 

 the Queen in Council. 



In criminal matters the Court of Admiralty has, partly by common 

 law, partly by a variety of statutes, sole cognisance of piracy and all 

 other indictable offences committed either upon the sea or on the 

 coasts, beyond the limits of any English county (13 & 14 Viet. 

 cc. 26, 27.) Its proceedings were according to the civil and maritime 

 laws, until the statute 28 Henry VIII. c. 15 enacted that its proceed- 

 ings should be according to the common law. The statute 7 & 8 Geo. IV. 

 c. 28, next directed all offences tried in the Court of Admiralty to be 

 punished in the same manner as if committed on land. A similar 

 provision was made by 9 Geo. IV. c. 31. Ultimately, the Central 

 Criminal Court in London was, by 4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 36, empowered to 

 determine offences committed within the jurisdiction of the Admi- 

 ralty. By 7 & 8 Viet. c. 2, authority was given to the judges of assize 

 and commissioners of oyer and terminer to try all offences within the 

 jurisdiction of the Admiralty ; so that, practically, the ordinary 

 criminal courts now determine all prosecutions for offences within the 

 Admiralty jurisdiction. 



The civil jurisdiction of the Instance Court extends generally to 

 marine contracts, that is, to such contracts as are made upon the 

 seas, as where the vessel is pledged during the voyage for necessary 

 repairs ; and to some few others, which, though entered into on land, 

 are executed entirely upon the sea, such as agreements for mariners' 

 wages. If part of a cause of action arise on the seas and part on the 

 laud, the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court is excluded. In con- 

 tracts made abroad, they exercise in most cases a concurrent juris- 

 diction with the Courts of Common Law. The Admiralty Court has 

 no cognizance of contracts under seal, except where, from the nature of 

 the subject matter, it has exclusive jurisdiction ; as in the case of an 

 hypothecation bond, under which a ship is given in pledge for neces- 

 saries furnished to the master and mariners. This security binds the 

 vessel on which the money is advanced. It imposes no personal con- 

 tract on the borrower, and so does not fall within the cognizance of the 

 common law. The Instance Court likewise regulates many other 

 points of maritime right, such as disputes between part-owners of 

 vessels, and questions relating to wreck .and salvage. (9 & 10 Viet. c. 99.) 

 It has also power to inquire into certain injuries committed on the 

 high seas, such as collision, and in such cases to assess the damages to 

 be paid to the party injured. 



The Vice- Admiralty Courts established in our colonies are regulated 

 by the 2 Wm. IV c. 51. They have a jurisdiction as to seamen's 

 wages, pilotage, collisions, &c. (9 & 10 Viet. c. 99.) There is an appeal 

 to the Queen in Council, that is, to the Judicial Committee of the 

 Privy Council. (3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 41.) 



Offences committed on the sea may be dealt with in the colonies, as 

 if the offence had been committed on waters within the local juris- 

 diction of the courts of the colony (12 & 13 Viet. c. 96. s. 1); and 

 questions relating to the attack and capture of pirates may now also be 

 determined in the Vice-Admiralty Courts abroad. (13 & 14 Viet. 

 cc. 26, 27.) 



The Prize Court is the only tribunal for deciding what is lawful 

 prize, and for adjudicating upon .all matters relating to prize. By 

 ' prize ' is understood every acquisition made jure belli (by the law of 

 war), which is either itself of a maritime character, or is made, whether 

 at sea or by land, by a naval force. All acquisitions by right of war 

 belong, by the law of war, to the sovereign power in the state, but are 

 usually, by the law of each particular state (as in England by several 

 acts of Parliament), distributed in certain proportions among the 

 persons who took or assisted in taking them. But agreeably to the 

 law of nations, the property in the thing captured is not considered to 

 be taken from the original owners until, by the sentence of a properly 

 authorised court, it has been condemned as lawful prize. We have, as 

 it should appear, no court authorised to adjudicate on property cap- 

 tured by land forces, or booty, as it is commonly termed by writers on 

 the law of nations ; but, when occasion requires (as when property to 

 an immense amount was captured by the British army in the conquest 

 of the Deccan), commissioners are specially appointed for the purpose. 

 The 3 & 4 Viet. c. 65 enacts that the High Court of Admiralty shall 

 have jurisdiction to decide all matters and questions concerning booty 

 of war, that is, property captured by land-forces, when referred to it 

 by the Privy Council. But property captured by the naval force 

 forms the peculiar province of the Prize Court of the Admiralty. 

 " The end of a Prize Court," says Lord Mansfield, " is to suspend the 

 property till condemnation ; to punish every sort of misbehaviour in 

 the captors ; to restore instantly, if upon the most summary examina- 

 tion there does not appear sufficient ground to condemn ; finally, if the 

 goods really are prize, against everybody, giving everybody a fair 



