Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/246

 232 //. FROM THE llOO'S TO THE 1800'S his Council, for the purpose of maintaining the ancient su- premacy of the Crown over the Sea of England, and the right of the Admiral's office over it, with a view to correct, inter- pret, declare, and uphold the laws and statutes made by the Kings of England, his ancestors, in order to maintain peace and justice amongst the people of every nation passing through the sea of England, and to punish delinquents, " which laws and statutes were by the Lord Richard, formerly King of England, on his return from the Holy Land, cor- rected, interpreted and declared, and were published in the Island of Oleron, and were named in the French tongue, ' la ley Olyroun.' " There is no doubt that Richard L, on his return from Palestine did not visit the Isle of Oleron, and all that can be meant is therefore, that the Laws of Oleron, whose origin we have seen, were promulgated in England by Richard. ^ This account receives confirmation from the con- tents of the famous " Black Book of the Admiralty," which, having disappeared for many years, was at length found at the bottom of a chest of private papers in a cellar. It con- tains: (1) instructions for the Admiral's administrative duties in time of war ; the first article of which is : ^ " when one is made Admirall," he must first ordain deputies, " some of the most loyall wise and discreet persons in the Maritime law {la loy maryne et anciens coustumes de la mer),^^ (2) articles of war for the King's navy, and (3) an account of the Admiral's jurisdiction in 34 articles, of which the first 24 are identical with the most ancient version of the Rolls of Oleron, and the rest are peculiar to the English Admiralty, and probably the result of the conference of 1339. Another article in this part : ^ " Item any contract made between mer- chant and merchant beyond the sea, or within the flood marke, shall be tried before the Admiral, and nowhere else by the ordinance of the said King Edward I. and his lords," appears to furnish the origin of the Admiral's jurisdiction in civil suits, which probably were more often settled informally by the merchants in the seaport towns " selon la ley merchant." The Admiral took his oath to make summary and full proc- ess " selon la ley marine et ancienn£s coustumes de la m^r."^ ' Twiss, i. Pref. 58. * Twiss, i. 3. » Twiss, i. 69. * Twiss, i. 169.