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ADMIRALTY, HIGH COURT OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 205 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ADMIRALTY, HIGH See also:COURT OF . The High Court of Admiralty of See also:England was the court of the See also:deputy or See also:lieutenant of the See also:admiral. It is supposed in the See also:Black See also:Book of the Admiralty to have been founded in the reign of See also:Edward I.; but it would appear, from the learned discussion of R. G. See also:Marsden, that it was established as a See also:civil court by Edward III. in the See also:year 136o; the See also:power of the admiral to determine matters of discipline in the See also:fleet, and possibly questions of piracy and See also:prize, being somewhat earlier. Even then the court as such took no formal shape; but the various admirals began to receive in their See also:patents See also:express grants of See also:jurisdiction with See also:powers to appoint lieutenants or deputies. At first there were See also:separate admirals or See also:rear-admirals of the See also:north, See also:south and See also:west, each with deputies and courts. A See also:list of them was collected by See also:Sir H. See also:Spelman. These were merged in or absorbed by one high court See also:early in the 15th See also:century. Sir See also:Thomas See also:Beaufort, afterwards See also:earl of See also:Dorset and See also:duke of See also:Exeter (appointed admiral of the fleet 1407, and admiral of England, See also:Ireland and See also:Aquitaine 1412, which latter See also:office he held till his See also:death in 1426), certainly had a court, with a See also:marshal and other See also:officers, and forrris of legal process—mandates, warrants, citations, compulsories, proxies, &c. Complaints of encroachment of jurisdiction by the Admiralty Courts led to the restraining acts, 13 Ric.

II. c. 5 (1389), 15 Ric. II. C. 3 (1391) and 2 See also:

Hen. IV. c. 11 (1400). The See also:original See also:object of the institution of the courts or court seems to have been to prevent or punish piracy and other crimes upon the narrow seas and to See also:deal with questions of prize; but civil jurisdiction soon followed. The jurisdiction in criminal matters was transferred by the Offences at See also:Sea See also:Act 1536 to the admiral or his deputy and three or four other substantial persons appointed by the See also:lord See also:chancellor, who were to proceed according to the course of the See also:common See also:law. By the Central Criminal Court Act 1834, See also:cognizance of crimes committed within the jurisdiction of the admiralty was given to the central criminal court. By an act of 1844 it has been also given to the justices of See also:assize; and crimes done within the jurisdiction of the admiralty are now tried as crimes committed within the See also:body of a See also:county. See also the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts of 1861.

From the See also:

time of See also:Henry IV. the only legislation affecting the civil jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty till the time of See also:Queen See also:Victoria is to be found in an act of 1540, enabling the admiral or his lieutenant to decide on certain complaints of freighters against shipmasters for delay in sailing, and one of 1562, giving the lord high admiral of England, the lord See also:warden of the Cinque Ports, their lieutenants and See also:judges, co-See also:ordinate power with other judges to enforce forfeitures under that act—a very curious and See also:miscellaneous See also:statute called " An Act for the See also:Maintenance of the See also:Navy. " In an act of 1534, with regard to ecclesiastical appeals from the courts of the archbishops to the See also:crown, it is provided that the See also:appeal shall be to the See also:king in See also:Chancery, " and that upon every such appeal a See also:commission shall be directed under the See also:great See also:seal to such persons as shall be named by the king's See also:highness, his heirs or successors, like as in cases of appeal from the Admiralty Court. " The appeal to these " persons, " called delegates, continued until it was transferred first to the privy See also:council and then to the judicial See also:committee of the privy council by acts of 1832 and 1833. The early jurisdiction of the court appears to have been exercised very much under the same See also:procedure as that used by the courts of common law. Juries are mentioned, sometimes of the county and sometimes of the county and merchants. But the connexion with See also:foreign parts led to the See also:gradual introduction of a procedure resembling that coming into use on the See also:continent and based on the See also:Roman civil law. The Offences at Sea Act1536 states the objection to this application of the civil law to the trial of criminal cases with much force: " After the course of the civil See also:laws, the nature whereof is that before any See also:judgment of death can be given against the offenders, either they must plainly confess their offences (which they will never do without See also:torture or See also:pain), or else their offences be so plainly and directly proved by See also:witness indifferent such as saw their offences committed, which cannot be gotten but by See also:chance at few times. " The material enactments of the restraining statutes were as follows:—An act of 1389 (13 Ric. II. c. 5) provided that " the admirals and their deputies shall not meddle from henceforth of anything done within the See also:realm, but only ag tActs. of a thing done upon the sea, as it hath been used in the time of the See also:noble See also:prince king Edward, grandfather of our lord the king that now is. " The act of 1391 (15 Ric. II. c.

3) provided that " of all manner of contracts, pleas and quarrels, and other things rising within the bodies of the counties as well by See also:

land as by See also:water, and also of See also:wreck of the sea, the admiral's court shall have no manner of cognizance, power, nor jurisdiction; but all such manner of contracts, pleas and quarrels, and all other things rising within the bodies of counties, as well by land as by water, as afore, and also wreck of the sea, shall be tried, deter-See also:mined, discussed and remedied by the laws of the land, and not before nor by the admiral, nor his lieutenant in any See also:wise. Nevertheless, of the death of a See also:man, and of a maihem done in great See also:ships, being and hovering in the See also:main stream of great See also:rivers, only beneath the [See also:bridges] of the same rivers [nigh] to the sea, and in none other places of the same rivers, the admiral shall have cognizance, and also to See also:arrest ships in the great flotes for the great voyages of the king and of the realm; saving always to the king all manner of forfeitures and profits thereof coming; and he shall have also jurisdiction upon the said flotes, during the said voyages only; saving always to the lords, cities, and boroughs, their liberties and franchises. " The act of 1400 (2 Hen. IV. c. xr) adds nothing by way of See also:definition or restriction, but merely gives additional remedies against encroachments, providing heavy fines for those who improperly See also:sue in the court, and those officials of the court who improperly assert jurisdiction. It was repealed by the Admiralty Court Act 1861. The statutes of See also:Richard, except the enabling See also:part of the second, were repealed by the Civil Procedure Acts See also:Repeal Act 1879. The formation of a High Court of See also:Justice rendered them obsolete. In the reign of See also:James I. the chronic, controversies between the courts of common law and the Admiralty Court as to the limits of their respective jurisdictions reached an acute See also:stage. We find the records of it in the second See also:volume of Marsden's Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty, and in Lord See also:Coke's writings: Reports, part xiii. 51; Institutes, part iv. See also:chap. 22. In this latter passage Lord Coke records how, notwithstanding an agreement asserted to have been made in 1575 between the justices of the King's See also:Bench and the See also:judge of the admiralty, the judges of the common law courts successfully maintained their right to prohibit suits in admiralty upon contracts made on See also:shore, or within havens, or creeks, or tidal rivers, if the See also:waters were within the body of any county, wheresoever such contracts were broken, for torts committed within the body of a county, whether on land or water, and for contracts made in parts beyond the seas.

It is due to the memory of the judges of Lord Coke's time to say that, at any See also:

rate as regards contracts made in partibus transmarinis, the same See also:rule appears to have been applied at least as early as 1544, the judges then holding that " for actions transitory abroad See also:action may See also:lie at common law. " All the while, however, the patents of the admiralty judge purported to confer on him a far ampler jurisdiction than the See also:jealousy of the other courts would concede to him. Judge's The patent of the last judge of the court, Sir See also:Robert patent. See also:Joseph See also:Phillimore, dated the 23rd of See also:August 1867, styles him " Lieut. Off'. Princ'. and See also:Commissary Gen'. and See also:Special in our High Court of Admiralty of Eng. and See also:President and Judge of the same, " and gives to him power to take cognizance of " all causes, civil and maritime, also all. contracts, complaints, offences or suspected offences, crimes, pleas, debts, exchanges, accounts, Jurisdlctioa. policies of assurance, loading of ships, and all other matters and contracts which relate to See also:freight due for the use of ships, transportation, See also:money or See also:bottomry; also all suits civil and maritime between merchants or between proprietors of ships and other vessels for matters in, upon, or by the sea, or public streams, or fresh-water ports, rivers, nooks and places overflown whatsoever within the ebbing and flowing of the sea and high-water See also:mark, or upon any of the shores or See also:banks adjacent from any of the first bridges towards the sea through England and Ireland and the dominions thereof, or elsewhere beyond the seas." Power is also given to hear appeals from See also:vice-admirals; also "to arrest . . . according to the civil laws and See also:ancient customs of our high court . . . all ships, persons, things, goods, wares and merchandise"; also " to enquire by the oaths of honest and lawful men . . . of all . . . things which . . . ought to be enquired after, and to mulct, arrest, punish, chastise and reform "; also " to preserve the public streams of our admiralty as well for the preservation of our royal navy, and of the fleets and vessels of our See also:kingdom .

Phoenix-squares

. . as of whatsoever fishes increasing in the rivers"; also " to reform nets too straight and other unlawful engines and See also:

instruments whatsoever for the catching of fishes "; also to take cognizance " of the wreck of the sea . . . and of the death, drowning and view of dead bodies," and the conservation of the statutes concerning wreck of the sea and the office of See also:coroner [1276], and concerning pillages [1353], and " the cognizance of See also:mayhem " within the ebb and flow of the See also:tide; all in as ample manner and See also:form as they were enjoyed by Dr See also:David See also:Lewis [judge from 1558 to 15841, Sir See also:Julius See also:Caesar, and the other judges in See also:order (22 in all) before Sir Robert Phillimore. This form of patent differs in but few respects from the earlier Latin patents —tempera Henry VIII.—except that they have a clause non obstantibus statut is. As has been said, however, the contention of the common law judges prevailed, and the Admiralty Court (except for a teln- porary revival under See also:Cromwell) sank into See also:comparative See also:Modern insignificance during the 17th century. The great progress. maritime See also:wars of the 18th century gave See also:scope to the exercise of its prize jurisdiction; and its See also:international importance as a prize court in the latter See also:half of the 18th and the first part of the loth centuries is a See also:matter of common See also:historical knowledge. There were upwards of l000 prize causes each year between 1803 and 1811, in some years upwards of 2000. There were other great judges; but Sir See also:William See also:Scott, after-wards Lord See also:Stowell, is the most famous. Before his time there were no reports of admiralty cases, except See also:Hay and Marriott's prize decisions. But from his time onwards there has been a continuous stream of admiralty reports, and we begin to find important cases decided on the instance as well as on the prize See also:side. In the reign of Queen Victoria, two enabling statutes, 184o and 1861, were passed and greatly enlarged the jurisdiction of the court. The manner in which these statutes were administered by Dr See also:Stephen Lushington and Sir R.

J. Phillimore, whose See also:

tenure of office covered the whole See also:period of the queen's reign till the creation of the 'High Court of Justice, the valuable assistance rendered by the nautical assessors from the Trinity See also:House, the great increase of See also:shipping, especially of See also:steam shipping, and the number and gravity of cases of collision, See also:salvage and damage to See also:cargo, restored the activity of the court and made it one of the most important tribunals of the See also:country. In 1875, by the operation of the Judicature Acts of 1873 and 1875, the High Court of Admiralty was with the other great courts of England formed into the High Court of Justice. The See also:principal officers of the court in subordination to the judge were the registrar (an office which always points to a connexion with See also:canon or civil law), and the marshal, who acted as the maritime See also:sheriff, having for his See also:baton of office a See also:silver See also:oar. The assistance of the Trinity Masters, which has been already mentioned, was provided for in the See also:charter of See also:incorporation of the Trinity House. These officers and their assistance have been preserved in the High Court of Justice. Till the year 1859 the practitioners in the High Court ofAdmiralty were the same as those in the ecclesiastical courts and distinct from those who practised in the See also:ordinary courts. See also:Advocates took the See also:place of barristers, and proctors of solicitors. The place of the See also:attorney-See also:general was Practiboners in taken by the king's or queen's See also:advocate-general, and the court. that of the See also:treasury See also:solicitor by the king's or queen's See also:procurator or See also:proctor. There were also an admiralty advocate and an admiralty proctor. The king's advocate also represented the crown in the ecclesiastical courts, and was its See also:standing adviser in matters of international and foreign law. The king's advocate led the See also:bar of his courts, and before the privy council took See also:precedence of the attorney-general.

The admiralty advocate or advocate to his See also:

majesty in his office of admiralty represented specially the lords of the admiralty. In the Admiralty Court he ranked next after the king's advocate. In an act of 1859 the practice was thrown open to barristers and to attorneys and solicitors. Upon the next vacancy after the courts were thrown open, the crown altered the precedence and placed the queen's advocate after the attorney- and solicitor-general. There were two holders of the office under these conditions, Sir R. J. Phillimore and Sir Travers See also:Twiss. The office was not filled up after the resignation of the latter. The admiralty had, when the courts were thrown open, a standing counsel for the ordinary courts and a solicitor. Questions soon arose as to the respective claims of the admiralty advocate and the counsel to the admiralty, and their acuteness was increased when the courts were fused into one High Court of Justice. Upon the resignation of Sir James See also:Parker See also:Deane the office of admiralty advocate was not filled up. In like manner the proctor to the admiralty has disappeared.

The office of king's or queen's proctor has been kept alive but amalgamated with that of the solicitor for the treasury. That officer uses the See also:

title of king's proctor when he appears in certain matrimonial causes. The last holder of the office of standing counsel to the admiralty was See also:Alexander See also:Staveley See also:Hill, K.C.,M.P. Since his death the office, like those of the king's or queen's advocate and the admiralty advocate, has not been filled up; and the ordinary law officers of the crown with the assistance of a junior counsel to the admiralty (a See also:barrister appointed by the attorney-general) perform the duties of all these offices. The judge advocate of the fleet is a practising barrister whose See also:function it is to advise the admiralty on all matters connected with courts-See also:martial. Though See also:section 61 of the See also:Naval Judge Discipline Act 1866 recognizes the possibility of his Advocate presence at a court-martial, he does not nowadays oP the attend, but is represented by his deputy or by an Fteet officiating deputy judge advocate appointed ad hoc by the admiralty, the See also:commander-in-See also:chief of the fleet or See also:squadron who convenes the court-martial, or, if no such See also:appointment is made, by the president of the court-martial. But though the judge advocate of the fleet does not actually attend the courts-martial very responsible duties are imposed upon him. By a See also:minute of the See also:Board passed in 1884 (which is still in force) all proceedings of courts-martial on officers and men of the royal navy, excepting those where the prisoner pleads guilty and no See also:evidence is taken, are to be referred to him, with a view to the See also:consideration of (a) the See also:charge, (b) the evidence on which the finding is based, and (c) the legality of the See also:sentence, and he writes a minute on each See also:case for the See also:information of the lords commissioners of the admiralty with regard to these points. He has no power to modify a sentence, a power which is reserved to the admiralty by § 53 (1) of the Naval Discipline Act 1866, except in the case of a death sentence, which can only be remitted by the crown. All cases where the prisoner has pleaded guilty are examined in the admiralty, and if in any case there is any See also:reason to think that there has been any informality or that the prisoner has not understood the effect of his plea, such case is submitted to the judge advocate of the fleet for his See also:opinion. The judge advocate of the fleet receives no fees but is remunerated by a See also:salary of £500 per annum. The existence of a deputy judge of the fleet appointed by the admiralty has been recognized by the king's regulations, but no such officer had been appointed up to 1908.

In accordance with the provisions of § 61 of the Naval Discipline Act 1866, in the See also:

absence of the judge advocate of the fleet and his deputy, an officiating judge advocate is appointed for each court-martial. His duties are described in detail by the king's regulations, but may be summed up as consisting of seeing that the charges are in order, pointing out any informalities or defects in the charges or in the constitution of the court, seeing that any witness required by prosecutor or prisoner is summoned, keeping the minutes of the proceedings, advising on matters of law which arise at any time after the See also:warrant for the court-martial is issued, See also:drawing up the findings and sentence, and forwarding the minutes when completed to the admiralty. The officiating judge advocate is usually the secretary of the See also:flag-officer convening the court-martial or some other officer of the accountancy See also:branch. He is remunerated for his services by a fixed See also:fee for each See also:day the court sits. Ireland.—The High Court of Admiralty of Ireland, being formed on the same See also:pattern as the High Court in England, sat in the Four Courts, See also:Dublin, having a judge, a registrar, a marshal and a king's or queen's advocate. In See also:peace time and See also:war time alike it exercised only an instance jurisdiction,, though in 1793 it claimed to exercise prize jurisdiction (see ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION). No prize commission ever issued to it. By the Irish Judicature Act of 1897 it was directed that it should be amalgamated with the Irish High Court of justice upon the next vacancy in the office of judge, and this subsequently took place. There was no separate lord high admiral for Ireland. See also:Scotland.—At the See also:Union, while the See also:national functions of the lord high admiral were merged in the See also:English office it was provided by the Act of Union that the Court of Admiralty in See also:Scot-land should be continued " for determination of all maritime cases See also:relating to private rights in Scotland competent to the jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court." This court continued till 1831, when its civil jurisdiction was given to the Court of Session and the Sheriffs' Courts (see ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION). See Sir Travers Twiss, Black Book of the Admiralty, Rolls See also:series; R. G.

Marsden, Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty, published by the See also:

Selden Society ; See also:Godolphin, View of the Admiral - Jurisdiction. (W. G. F.

End of Article: ADMIRALTY, HIGH COURT OF

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