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 ral. To constitute the authority for trying prize causes, a commission under the great seal issues to the Lord High Admiral, at the commencement of every war, to will and require the Court of Admiralty, and the lieutenant and judge of the said court, his surrogate or surrogates, to proceed upon all manner of captures, seizures, prizes, and reprisals, of all ships and goods that are or shall be taken; and to hear and determine according to the course of the Admiralty, or the law of nations, and a warrant issues to the Judge of the Admiralty accordingly.

The Admiralty Court being in this respect a court in which foreigners of all nations may become suitors, an appeal may be had from its decisions to a committee of the Lords of His Majesty’s Privy Council, who hear and determine according to the established laws of nations.

At the breaking out of a war, the Lord High Admiral also receives a special commission from the crown, under the great seal, to empower him to grant letters af marque and reprisals against the enemy, he having no such power by his patent. These letters are either general or special;—general, when granted to private men to fit out ships at their own charge to annoy the enemy;—special, when in the case of any of our merchants being robbed of their estates or property by foreigners, the king grants them letters of reprisal against that nation, though we may be in amity with it. Before the latter can be sued for, the complainant must have gone through the prosecution of his suit in the courts of the state whose subjects have wronged him; where if justice be denied, or vexatiously delayed, he must first make proof of his losses and charges in the Admiralty Court here; whereupon, if the King is satisfied he has pursued all lawful means to obtain redress, and his own interceding should produce no better effect, special letters of reprisal are granted; not, however, as must be evident, until a very strong case has been made out. This custom, which we may now consider as obsolete, seems to be a remnant of the law of ancient Greece, called androlepsia, by which, if a man was slain, the friends and relations of the deceased might seize on any three citizens of the place where the murderer took refuge, and make them slaves, unless he was delivered up. Both Oliver Cromwell and King Charles II. have granted letters of reprisal. In 1638, the Duc d’Epernon seized on the ship Amity of London, for the service of the French king against the Spaniards, promising full satisfaction; but none being made, the owners obtained letters of reprisal from the usurper, and afterwards, in 1665, from Charles II. In 1666, Captain Butler Barnes had letters of reprisal against the Danes. The Dutch having burnt six English merchant ships in the Elbe, within the territories of Hamburgh, which city, instead of giving any assistance or protection, hindered the English from defending themselves, Ietters of reprisal were granted to the sufferers against that city. Lastly, one Justiniani, a noble Genoese, being indebted in a great sum to Joseph Como, a merchant in London, which he had several years solicited for, but could get no satisfaction, Captain Scott, commander of his Majesty’s ship the Dragon, stationed at that time in the Mediterranean, received orders to make reprisals upon the ships of that republic; upon which the debt was paid.

2. The Judge. The patents to the Judge of the Admiralty and Vice-Admiralty courts run pretty nearly in the same manner as these of the Lord High Admiral, and point out the several matters of which he can take cognizance. The parliament of 1640 established the office of Judge of the Admiralty court in three persons, with a salary of L. 500 a-year to each. At the Restoration, there were two judges of the High Court of Admiralty, which sometimes proved inconvenient; for when they differed in opinion no judgment could be had. These judges, before the Revolution, held their appointment only during pleasure. At that period, Sir Charles Hedges was constituted judge under the great seal of England, , with a salary of L. 400 a-year, and an additional L. 400 out of the proceeds of prizes and perquisites of the Admiralty; but in the year 1725 the latter sum was diminished from the ordinary estimate by the House of Commons. Sir William Scott, the present judge, in consequence of the extraordinary increase of the business in the Admiralty Court, has a salary of L. 2500 a-year on the ordinary estimate of the navy.

The judges of the Vice-Admiralty courts in certain of the colonies, limited by 41st George III., are allowed a salary not exceeding to each the sum of L. 2000 a-year, to be paid out of the consolidated fund of Great Britain; together with profits and emoluments, not exceeding to each the farther sum of L. 2000 per annum out of the fees to be taken by the said judges, of which a table is directed to be hung up in some conspicuous place in the court; and no judge is to take any fee beyond those specified, directly or indirectly, on pain of forfeiture of his office, and being proceeded against for extortion: and on his retirement from office, after six years’ service, his Majesty may, by authority of the act above mentioned, grant unto such judge an annuity for the term of his life, not exceeding L. 1000 per annum. This liberal provision puts the judges of the colonial courts of Vice-Admiralty above all suspicion of their decisions being influenced by unworthy motives; a suspicion they were not entirely free from when their emoluments depended mainly on their fees.

During the late war, a session of oyer and terminer to try Admiralty causes was held at the Old Bailey twice a-year. The commission for this purpose is of the same nature with those that are granted to the judges when they go the circuits; that is to say, to determine and punish all crimes, offences, misdemeanours, and abuses; the end of both being the same, their limits different; the one relating to things done upon the land, the other to things done upon the water. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, all the members of the Privy-Council, the Chancellor and all the judges, the Lords of the Treasury, the Secretary of the Admiralty, the Treasurer and Commissioners of the navy, some of the Aldermen of London, and several Doctors of the civil law, are the members of this commission, any four of whom make a court, the quorum being the Lords of the Admiralty, Judge of the Admiralty, the Twelve Judges, and the Doctors of the civil law.