Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/175

Rh ADM1BALT Y and the pursuant, if attainted, shall incur the penalty of 10 to the king. The place which, according to Spelman, is absolutely subject to the jurisdiction of the admiral is the sea ; which, however, compre hends public rivers, fresh waters, creeks, and all places whatsoever, within the ebbing and flowing of the sea, at the highest water, the shores or banks adjoining, from all the first bridges to the seaward ; and in these, he observes, the admiralty hath full jurisdiction in all causes, criminal and civil, except treasons and the right of wreck. Lord Coke observes (5 Rep. 107), that between the high-water mark and the low-water mark the admiral hath jurisdiction super aquam, ad plcnitudinem maris, and as long as it flows, though the land be infra corpus comitalus at the reflow, so as of one place there is divisum imperiurn interchangeably. But though the statute restraineth the lord high admiral that he shall not hold plea of a thing rising in the body of a county, he is not restrained from making execution upon the land, but is em powered to take either body or goods upon the land ; otherwise his jurisdiction would often prove a dead letter. He also can and does hold his court in the body of a county. So, likewise, the civil power may apprehend and try persons who may have been guilty of offences cognisable at common law, though committed in the fleet, in any port or harbour of Great Britain, or at sea, provided such persons have not already been tried for such olfences either by court-martial or in the admiralty court ; and in all ports, harbours, creeks, &c., lying in any county, the high admiral and the sheriff, or coroner, as the case may be, have concurrent jurisdiction. By the 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 53 the admiralty jurisdiction is extended to Prince of Wales Island, Singapore, and Malacca ; and under the 3 and 4 Viet. c. 65, the court has jurisdiction in the following cases : Whenever a vessel is arrested by process issuing from the said court, or the proceeds of any vessel are brought into the registry, to take cognisance of all claims in respect of any mortgage of such vessel. To decide all questions as to the title to, or ownership of, such vessel, or the proceeds thereof remaining in the registry, arising in any cause of possession, salvage, damage, wages, or bottomry, insti tuted in the said court. To decide all claims and demands whatsoever in the nature of salvage, or in the nature of towage, or for necessaries supplied to any foreign vessel, and enforce the payment of the same, whether such vessel may have been in the body of the county or upon the high seas at the time when the service was rendered, or damage received, or necessaries furnished, in respect of which claim is made. To decide all matters and questions concerning booty of war on shore, or the distribution thereof, which it shall please her Majesty, by the advice of the privy council, to refer to the judgment of the said court, who shall proceed therein as in cases of prize of war. And under 40 of the 9 and 10 Viet. c. 99, to decide on all claims and demands whatsoever in the nature of salvage for services performed, whether on sea or land. The high court of Admiralty has jurisdiction upon the high seas all over the world. It has an instance jurisdic tion which is civil, and a prize jurisdiction in time of war. The latter jurisdiction does not extend to the admiralty courts of Ireland or Scotland, which never had prize com missions sent to them. It is of the highest importance in war time, when questions of seizure or detention of neutral ships arise, to have but one court of which to inquire concerning all causes, so as to expedite the action of the Foreign Office in dealing with representations from neutral powers. The causes which arise in time of peace are causes of collisions, of seamen s wages, bottomry, wearing unlawful colours, salvage, and causes of possession, where one part owner or minor claims to have security from those other owners who are going to send the ship on a foreign voyage that the ship shall return again. Causes under the Slave Act treaties are also cognisable here. The evidence is all documentary. In 1803 there were 1125 prize cases before the court; in 1804, 1144; in 1806, 2286; in 1807, 2789; and so 6n, above 1000 causes each year, down to the year 1811. The criminal jurisdiction, which formerly comprehended all crimes whatever committed at sea, from larceny to homicide, which were triable at common law at the assizes if committed on shore, was much modified upon the report of the select committee on the high court of admiralty in 1833. Such offences are now triable at common law on surrender to the jurisdiction; but the judge of the admi ralty court may still sit with other commissioners of oyer and terminer. He has no longer any independent criminal jurisdiction. The instance jurisdiction is permanent; the prize juris diction is by virtue of a special commission, pro re natd. Its issue is one of the first acts done on the outbreak of w&amp;lt;ir. Appeals formerly lay from the civil decisions to the high court of delegates or specially-appointed commis sioners ; from the prize decisions to the prize commissioners. By the Acts 2 and 3 Will. IV. c. 92, and 3 and 4 Will. IT. c. 41, all appeals from admiralty court decisions of any kind lie to the sovereign, who is authorised to refer them to the judicial committee of the privy council. The lord high admiral was assisted in his judicial functions by the following principal officers: 1. The vice- admiral; 2. The judge; 3. The registrar; 4. The advocate- general; 5. The counsel and judge-advocate; 6. The soli citor; 7. The procurator; 8. The marshal, which officers are continued. 1. The Vice- Admiral. This officer is the admiral s deputy or lieutenant mentioned in the statutes of 13th and 15th Richard II. , and was the person, most probably, who pre sided in the court. At present the office of vice admiral of England is a perfect sinecure, generally conferred on some naval officer of high rank and distinguished character in the service. The salary of 434, Is. 9d. per annum, attached to it in addition to half-pay, was abolished by order in council, 22d February 1870. The salary and office of rear-admiral of England were abolished by the same order in council. The salary was 342, 9s. per annum. Each county of England has its vice-admiral, which .is little more than an honorary distinction, though the patent gives to the holder all the powers vested in the admiral himself. Similar powers were also granted to the judges of the admiralty county courts; but this was found so inconvenient and prejudicial to those who had suits to commence or defend before them, that the Duke of York, when lord high admiral, in 1663 caused instructions to be drawn up in order to assign to each his province, whereby the whole judicial power remained with the judge, and the upholding of the rights of the admiral, and levy ing and receiving the perquisites, &amp;lt;tc., appertained to the vice-admiral. Each of the four provinces of Ireland has its vice-admiral. There is one vice-admiral for all Scotland, and one for the Shetland and Orkney Islands. The governor of most of our colonies had a commission of vice-admiral granted to him by the lord high admiral or lords commissioners of the admiralty, and generally a commission from the king under the great seal, grounded on the 11 and 12 William III. c. 7, and further confirmed by 46 Geo. III. c. 54, by which he was authorised to try all treasons, piracies, felonies, robberies, murders, conspiracies, and other offences, of what nature or kind soever, committed on the seas, where the parties were taken into custody in places remote from England. The coiirt consisted of seven persons at the least, of whom the governor, the lieutenant-governor, the vice- admiral, the flag-officer, or commander-in-chief of the squa dron, the members of the council, the chief -just ice, judge of the vice-admiralty court, captains of men-of-war, and secretary of the colony, were specially named in the com mission; but any three of these, with four others selected from known merchants, factors, or planters, captains, lieu tenants, or warrant officers of men-of-war, or captains, masters, or mates of merchant ships, constituted a legal court of piracy. By the 12 and 13 Viet. c. 96, all per sons charged in any colony with offences committed on the sea may be dealt with in the same manner as if the offences had been committed on waters within the local jurisdiction of the courts of the colony.