52 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



This memorandum furnishes an important clue as to the 

 nature of the jurisdiction exercised in the so-called sea of 

 England. It is evident from the concluding part that the 

 laws and statutes referred to are the mercantile marine laws, 

 which were best known in this country as the Laws of Oleron, 

 and are included in the Black Book of the Admiralty together 

 with other articles peculiar to the English Admiralty. 1 They 

 appear to have been published by Richard I. at the end of the 

 twelfth century, at a time when the old customs of the sea be- 

 gan to be committed to writing, as rules proper to be observed 

 by the admirals of his fleet for the punishment of delinquencies 

 and the redress of wrongs committed on the sea. They were 



in eodem, et ad puniendum delinquentes et dampna passis satisfaciendum ; 



quse quidem leges et statuta per Dominum Ricardum quondam Regem Angliae 



in reditu suo a Terra Sancta correcta fuerunt, interpretata, declarata, et in 



Insula Oleron publicata, et nominata in Gallica lingua La loy Olyroun." 



According to Godolphin (A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction, 1661), the "form 



of proceedings " refers to the statute of the Writ of Consultation, 24 Edw. I. , with 



regard to the proceedings of the Courts. The following is on another membrane 



in the same roll (mem. 2d), which contains ordinances agreed upon between the 



masters and mariners of England, Bayonne, and Flanders, at Bruges, 8th March 



1286. It is in the handwriting of the time of Edward III. 



' ' Item a la fin qe veues et considerees les formes des proces et des lettres 

 ordeinees per les consaillers le dit aiel nostres seigneur le Roi pur eux et la 

 dite nacioun Dengleterre a recouerer et receuer les ditz subgitz aidaunz et 

 alliez et a faire redresser a eux toux les damages a eux donez en Mier et en 

 terre duraunz les dites trewes pees et confederaciouns et countre la forme 

 dycelles par les ditz Fraunceys aidaunz et alliez et eschuire clamour de poeple 

 sur la dite denatureste, &c., et les damages quiex de tiel clamour purroient 

 auenir et especialment a retenir et meintener la souereignete qe ses ditz 

 auncestres Rois Dengleterre soleyent auoir en la dite mier Dengleterre quant 

 alamendement declaracioun et interpretacioun des lois per eux faites a gouerner 

 toutes maneres des gentz passanz per la dite mier. Et primerement a son 

 admirail et as meistres et mariners des uefs des Sync Portz Dengleterre et 

 des autres terres annex a la Corone Dengleterre entendaunt a sa armee en 

 la dite mier pur retenir et meyntenir la garde des lois auauntdites et la 

 puniscioun de toux faitz al encountre en la mier susdite Semblables formes 

 des proces et lettres soient desors tenues od toux les amendementz quiex 

 purrount estre ordeinez par le sage Counsail nostre Seignur le Roi a profist et 

 honur de lui et des soens." 



1 Twiss (Black Book of the Admiralty, ii. xliii ; ii. xi), who collected the old sea 

 laws of Europe, states that the most ancient extant source of modern marine law 

 are the Decisions of the Consuls of the Sea of the City of Trani, on the shores of 

 the Adriatic, which purport to be of the date A.D. 1063 ; and that the next most 

 ancient are the Judgments of Oleron, of which there are still copies, belonging to 

 the reign of Edward II., in the archives of the Guildhall, for use no doubt in the 

 City court, which administered the Law Merchant and the Law Maritime. 



