Expenditure.
It may be useful to add a note concerning the spending of the money. Within the controller's department, as has been explained, are centred the more important spending branches of the admiralty. While the work of designing ships and preparing plans is in progress, the director of stores, the director of dockyards and other officials of that department concerned are making preparation for the work. The necessary stores, comprising almost every imaginable class of materials, are brought together, and the director of stores is specially charged to obtain accurate information in regard to requirements. He is not, however, a purchasing officer, that work being undertaken by the director of navy contracts, who is concerned with the whole business of supply, except in regard to hulls and machinery of ships built by contract, and the special requirements of the director of works. At the same time, the civil departments of the admiralty being held responsible for the administration of the votes they compile, it is their duty to watch the outlay of money, and to see that it is well expended, the accountant-general being directed to assist them in this work. The system is closely jointed and well administered, but it possesses a very centralized character, which interferes to some extent with flexible working, and with the progress of necessary repairs, especially in foreign yards. In so far as ships given out to contract are concerned (and the same is the case in regard to propelling machinery built by contract), the director of navy contracts plays no part, the professional business being conducted through the controller of the navy, who is advised thereon by the director of naval construction and the engineer-in-chief. The work conducted in private establishments is closely watched by the admiralty officials, and is thoroughly tested, but, mutatis mutandis, the system in regard to contract-built ships is practically the same as that which prevails in the dockyards.
4. Naval Finance: The Accountant-General's Department.— The subject of naval finance is one of great complexity and of vast importance. The large sums of money with which the admiralty deals in the way of both estimates and expenditure, amounting recently to about L. 30,000,000 annually, implies the existence of the great organization which is found in the department of the accountant-general of the navy. Under the authority of the first lord, the parliamentary and financial secretary is responsible for the finance of the admiralty in general, and for the estimates and the expenditure, the accounts and the purchases, and for all matters which concern the relations of the admiralty to the treasury and to other departments of the government; and in all the practical and advisory work the accountant-general is his officer, acting as his assistant, with the director of naval contracts who, under the several lords, is concerned with the business of purchase.
The organization of the accountant-general's department has undergone many changes, and the resulting condition is the outcome of various modifications which have had for their purpose to give to this officer a measure of financial control. There have been various views as to what the duties of the accountant- general should be. After the reorganization of the admiralty by Sir James Graham in 1832, the accountant-general was regarded as a recording and accounting officer, wholly concerned with receipt and expenditure. His duties were limited to the auditing of accounts, payments and expenditure generally. Owing to changes effected in 1869, which made the parliamentary secretary, assisted by the civil lord, responsible for finance at the admiralty, bringing the naval and victualling store departments into his charge. the accountant-general was invested with the power of criticizing these accounts financially, though he did not as yet possess any financial control, and the position was little changed by fresh rules made in 1876. It was not until 1880 that the powers of the accountant-general were enlarged in this direction. It was then ordered that he should be consulted before any expenditure which the estimates had not provided for was incurred, and before any money voted was applied to other purposes than those for which it was provided. The effect of this order was not happy, for the accountant-general could not undertake these duties without setting up friction with the departments whose accounts he criticized. It was contemplated by the admiralty in 1885 to make the accountant-general the assistant of the financial secretary, and to raise him to the position of a permanent officer of finance instead of being an officer of account invested with imperfect authority in the direction of control. A select committee of the House of Commons reported that the accountant-general possessed no financial control over the departments, and that there was an urgent need for establishing such a control. At the time the position of that officer did not enable him to exercise any sufficient general supervision over expenditure, and there was no permanent high official expressly charged with finance. Accordingly, after being submitted to a departmental committee, a fresh arrangement was made in November 1885, whereby the accountant-general, under the authority of the financial secretary, was given a direct share in the preparation of the estimates. His written concurrence was required before the final approval of the votes, and each vote was referred to him for his approval or observations, and he was to exercise a financial review of expenditure and to see that it was properly accounted for. He became, in fact, ``the officer to be consulted on all matters involving an expenditure of naval funds.'' It was believed that economical administration would result; but much opposition was raised to the principle that was involved of submitting the proposals of responsible departments to the inexpert criticism of a financial authority. Mr Main, assistant accountant-general, stated before the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments, 1887, that the effect had been to develop a tendency to withhold information or to afford only partial information, as well as to cause friction when questions were raised affecting expenditure, accompanied by protests, even in those cases in which these questions were manifestly of a legitimate character. The result was discouraging, and in the opinion of Mr Main had done much to weaken financial control and to defeat the purpose of the order. It is unnecessary to detail the various changes that have been made by the institution of dockyard expense accounts in the department of the controller, and by various other alterations introduced. The treasury instituted an independent audit of store accounts which greatly affected the position of the accountant-general, and the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments reported that the Board of Admiralty were of opinion that they could dispense with the accountant- general's review altogether. The commission was, however, of opinion that the accountant-general should be the permanent assistant and adviser, on all matters involving the outlay of public money, of the financial secretary.
The operations of the accountant-general are now conducted in accordance with the order in council of the 18th of November 1885, and of an office memorandum issued shortly afterwards. He thus acts as deputy and assistant of the parliamentary and financial secretary, and works with a finance committee within the admiralty, of which the financial secretary is president and the accountant-general himself vice-president. The duties of the department are precisely defined as consisting in the criticism of the annual estimates as to their sufficiency before they are passed, and in advising the financial and parliamentary secretary as to their satisfying the ordinary conditions of economy. The accountant-general also reviews the progress of liabilities and expenditure, and in relation to dockyard expenditure he considers the proposed programme of construction as it affects labour, material and machinery. He further reviews current expenditure, or the employment of labour and material, as distinguished from cash payments of the yard, as well as proposals for the spending of money on new work or repairs of any kind for which estimates are currently proposed. The accountant-general's department has three principal divisions: the estimates division, the navy pay division, and the invoices and claims division. In the first of these is the ledger branch, occupied with the work of accounts under the several votes and sub-heads of votes, and with preparing the navy appropriation account, as well as the estimates and liabilities branch, in which the navy estimates are largely prepared after having been proposed and worked out in the executive departments of the admiralty. There are also ships' establishments and salaries branches. The navy pay division includes the full and half-pay branch and a registry section. There is also the seamen's pay branch, which audits ships' ledgers and wages, and has charge of all matters concerning the wages of seamen. The victualling audit is also in this branch, and is concerned with payments for savings in lieu of victualling and some other matters. Further, the navy pay division examines ships' ledgers, and is concerned with the service, characters, ages, &c., of men as well as with allotments and pensions The third division of the accountant-general's department, known as that of invoices and claims, conducts a vast amount of clerical work through many branches, and is concerned with the management of naval savings banks and matters touching prize-money and bounties.
The importance of this great department of the admiralty cannot be overrated. It is, in the first place, of supreme importance that the navy estimates should be placed upon a sound financial basis; and in practice the Board requires the concurrence of the accountant-general to the votes before they are approved, and thus in greater or less degree this officer is concerned in the preparation of every one of the votes. He does not concern himself with matters of larger policy outside the domain of finance, and it must be confessed that there appears to be something anomalous in his ``review'' of naval expenditure. It is, however, a mark of the flexibility or elasticity of the admiralty system that in practice the operations of the accountant- general's department work easily, and that admiralty finance is recognized as having been placed upon a sound and efficient basis. There are important financial officers outside the accountant-general's department concerned with assisting the controller. The inspector of dockyard expense accounts, who is entirely in the controller's department, enables him to exercise careful supervision over expenditure and the distribution of funds to special purposes. This work, however, though highly important, is merely one part of the system of financial control. Within recent years the bonds have been considerably tightened, and the work is untainted by corruption. It is true that in exercising rigid supervision over expenditure the work has become more centralized than is desirable, and it is a mark of change within recent years that local officers have been in larger measure deprived of independent powers. This, indeed, is a necessary condition of financial control, or at least a condition which it is not easy to change where rigid control is necessary.
5. Mobilization of the Fleet.—By the mobilization of the fleet is meant the placing of naval resources upon a war footing, in readiness in all material and personal respects for hostile operations. A complete mobilization for purposes of practice in peace time would dislocate seafaring life in a manner which would be justifiable only by actual war. Thus no country in peace manoeuvres calls out all its naval reserves, or makes use of the auxiliary cruisers—merchant ships for which a subvention is paid, and which are constructed with a view to use in warfare. Experience has shown that when vessels are commissioned they are liable to numerous small breakdowns of their machinery if they are manned by crews who have no familiarity with them. Many accidents of this kind had occurred in the British navy at manoeuvres, though it could not be shown that the vessel was defective, or that the crew was either untrained or negligent. These experiments led the admiralty to adopt a new system in 1904, designed to obviate the risk that vessels would be crippled at a critical moment by want of acquaintance on the part of the crew with their machinery. Under this system all vessels which are considered to be available for war are divided into two classes:—first, those in full commission which constitute the different squadrons maintained at all times; and secondly, those which form the reserve and are kept in partial commission—or rather partially manned though in commission. These are kept at the home ports—Chatham, Portsmouth, Plymouth—in reserve squadrons under a flag-officer who will command them in war. Each vessel has a captain, a second in command, and a proportion of other officers including engineer, navigating and torpedo officers. Two-fifths of her full complement of crew are always on board, and they include the most skilled men needed for the proper management of the machinery of all kinds—more especially that of the torpedoes and guns. These vessels go to sea for periodical practice. When therefore line fleet must be mobilized for war it will only be necessary to fill up the number of trained men by the less skilled hands from the naval barracks occupied by the sailors not belonging to any particular ship, or from the naval reserve. All ranks of the navy are placed on a roster by which they successively serve in ships in full commission, are quartered in the naval barracks and drafted from them to the ships of the reserve, from which they return to the sea-going ships. It is calculated that there are always men enough in the barracks to complete the crews of a small squadron for emergency service without disturbing the regular routine of the peace establishment. The British admiralty may claim that though the machinery at its command in the past was not perfect it has commonly been able to send a squadron to sea more rapidly than any other power in Europe. Much depends on the arrangement of the stores as well as the disposition of the men. The introduction at the end of the 18th century of the businesslike practice of keeping the fittings of each ship together by themselves, did much to facilitate the rapid mobilization of a portion of the British fleet in 1790 which impressed all Europe. The prompt manning of a special service squadron in 1895 in consequence of the troubles then arising in connexion with the former South African Republic, showed that even before its plans for mobilization were completed the admiralty had its resources well in hand. (R. V. H.)
Other countries.
As regards the navies of countries other than Great Britain, their government is in the hands of ministers or departments variously constituted. The Russian admiralty is a highly organized bureau, divided into departments, and under the supreme control of a high admiral, usually a grand duke of the Imperial House. The German admiralty was, till 1872, a branch of the War Office, though governed by a vice-admiral under a naval prince of the reigning family. In 1872 it was severed from the War Office, though remaining an appanage thereof, and a general of the army was placed at its head. The French minister of marine, assisted by a permanent staff, controls the navy of France on a highly centralized system of administration; but the departments are well organized, and work well. The Italian fleet is governed on principles analogous to the French, but with a large admixture of the English representative element. The American system is worth describing in more detail.
United States Navy Department.
The president of the United States is commander-in-chief of the navy—a constitutional prerogative which he seldom asserts. The Navy Department is administered by a civilian secretary of the navy—a cabinet officer appointed by the president—who exercises general supervision. Next in authority is the assistant-secretary, also a civilian nominee, who acts as an assistant, and has, besides, certain specific duties, including general supervision of the marine corps, naval militia and naval stations beyond the continental limits of the United States. The details of administration are supervised by the chiefs of bureaus, of which there are eight. They are appointed by the president from the navy list for a period of four years, and have the rank of rear-admiral while serving in this capacity. They have direct control of the business and correspondence pertaining to their respective bureaus; and orders emanating from them have the same force as though issued by the secretary.
The bureau of navigation is the executive, or military, bureau, and as such promulgates and enforces the orders and regulations prescribed by the secretary; it has general direction of the procurement, education, assignment and discipline of the personnel. It also controls the movements of ships, including the authorization of manoeuvres and drills, such as target practice. The bureau of equipment has charge of all electrical appliances, compasses, charts and fuel, and generally all that relates to the equipment of vessels, exclusive of those articles that come naturally under the cognizance of other bureaus. It has charge of the naval observatory, where the Ephemeris is prepared annually, and of the hydrographic office, where charts, sailing directions, notices to mariners, &c., are issued. The bureau of ordnance has charge of the gun factory, proving ground, and torpedo station, and all naval magazines; all the details that pertain to the manufacture, tests, installation or storage of all offensive and defensive apparatus, including armour, ammunition hoists, ammunition rooms, &c., though much of the actual installation is performed by the bureau of construction after consultation with the bureau of ordnance. The bureau of construction and repair has charge of the designing, building and repairing of hulls of ships, including turrets, spars and many other accessories. It builds all boats, has charge of the docking of vessels and the care of ships in reserve. The chief of this bureau is usually a naval constructor. The bureau of steam engineering has charge of all that relates to the designing, building and repairing of steam machinery, and of all the steam connexions on board ship. The bureau of supplies and accounts procures and distributes provisions, clothing and supplies of the pay department afloat, and acts as the purchasing agent for all materials used at naval stations, except for the medical department and marine corps. It also has charge of the disbursement of money and keeping of accounts. The chief of this bureau is a pay officer. The bureau of medicine and surgery has charge of all naval hospitals, dispensaries and laboratories, and of all that pertains to the care of sick afloat and ashore. The chief of this bureau is a medical officer. The bureau of yards and docks has charge of construction and maintenance of wet and dry docks, buildings, railways, cranes, and generally all permanent constructions at naval stations. The chief of this bureau is often a civil engineer.
Under the cognizance of the secretary's office is the office of the judge-advocate-general, an officer selected by the president from the navy list for a term of four years, with the rank of captain while so serving. He is legal adviser to the department, and reviews the records of all courts and statutory boards. Under the cognizance of the assistant-secretary's office is the office of naval intelligence, which collates information on naval matters obtainable at home and abroad. The staff is composed of naval officers on shore duty, the senior in charge being usually a captain, and known as chief intelligence officer. Several boards are employed under the various bureaus, or directly as advisers to the secretary. Some are permanent in character, while others are composed of officers employed on other duty, and are convoked periodically or when required. The naval policy board is composed of officers of high rank, and meets once a month; its duties conform to those of the general staff in armies. The board of construction consists of the chiefs of bureaus of ordnance, equipment, construction and repair, steam engineering, and the chief intelligence officer. Its duty is to advise the secretary in all matters relating to the construction policy in detail. The general construction policy is suggested by the naval policy board. The board of inspection and survey is composed of representatives of all bureaus, who inspect vessels soon after commission and on return from a cruise, and report on the condition of the ship and efficiency of its personnel; it also conducts the official trials of new vessels. The boards for the examination of officers for promotion are composed of officers of the corps to which the candidate belongs and of medical officers. Every officer is examined professionally, morally and physically at each promotion. The Navy Department is located at Washington, D.C., and occupies a building together with the State and War Departments (the latter being charged solely with army affairs).
The personnel (see also under NAVY) is limited in number by law. The engineer corps was abolished in 1899, the then engineer-officers becoming line officers in their respective relative grades. Line officers are the military and executive branch, and are required besides to perform engineer duties. They are graduates of the Naval Academy. Vacancies occurring in the construction corps are filled from the graduates of the Naval Academy having the highest standing in scholarship, who are given a two years' graduate course, generally abroad, on being graduated from the Academy, and are then appointed assistant naval constructors. All other staff officers are appointed directly from civil life by the president, from candidates passing prescribed examinations. Each representative and delegate in Congress has authority to nominate a candidate for naval cadet whenever his congressional district has no representative in the Naval Academy. The candidate must be a resident of the district which the congressman represents, between fifteen and twenty years old, and must pass prescribed mental and physical examinations. The president is allowed ten representatives at the Academy at all times, appointed ``at large,'' and one appointed from the District of Columbia.
The course of instruction at the Academy is four years, each comprising eight months' study, three months' practice cruise, and one month's furlough. At the expiration of four years, cadets are sent to cruising ships for two years' further instruction, and are then commissioned ensigns. After three years' further sea service, ensigns are promoted to lieutenants (junior grade). After this, promotion is dependent upon seniority alone, the senior officer in any grade being promoted to the lowest number in the next higher grade when a vacancy occurs in the higher grade, and not before. All officers are retired on three-fourths sea pay at the age of sixty-two, or whenever a board of medical officers certifies that an officer is not physically qualified to perform all duties of his grade. A few officers are allowed to retire voluntarily in certain circumstances, to stimulate promotion. Any officer on the retired list may be ordered by the secretary to such duty as he may be able to perform: this is a legal provision to provide for emergencies. Promotion in the staff corps is dependent upon seniority, though relative rank in the lower grades in some corps somewhat depends upon promotion of line officers of the same length of service, and accounts for the existence of staff officers in the same grade having different ranks. All sea-going officers, after commission, are required to spend three years at sea, and are then usually employed on shore-duty for a time, according to the needs of the service—short terms of shore-duty thereafter alternating with three-year cruises. This rule is adhered to as strictly as circumstances will permit. Shore-duty includes executive or distinctly professional duties in the Navy Department, under its bureaus, and at navy yards and stations; inspection of ordnance, machinery, dynamos, &c., under construction by private firms; duty on numerous temporary or permanent boards; instructors at the Naval Academy; recruiting duty; charge of branch hydrographic offices; inspection duty in the lighthouse establishment; at state nautical schools; as attaches with United States legations; and many others. Naval constructors (usually), civil engineers and professors of mathematics are continuously employed on shore-duty connected with their professions, the Naval Observatory, Nautical Almanac and the Naval Academy employing most of the last.
Warrant officers (boatswains, gunners, carpenters, sailmakers, warrant machinists and pharmacists) are appointed by the secretary, preference being given to enlisted men in the navy who have shown marked ability for the positions. They must be between twenty-one and thirty-five years of age, and pass an examination. After serving satisfactorily for one year under an acting appointment, they receive warrants that secure the permanency of their office. Ten years after appointment, boatswains, gunners, carpenters and sailmakers are eligible for examination for a commission as chief-boatswain, &c., and as such they rank with, but next after, ensigns. Mates are rated by the secretary from seamen or ordinary seamen. They have no relative rank, but take precedence of all petty officers. Their duties approximate to those of boatswains, though they seldom serve on large cruising vessels. Clerks to pay officers are appointed by the secretary on the nominations of the pay officers. They have no rank and are not promoted or retired. Their appointments are revoked when their services are no longer needed.
Boys between fifteen and seventeen years old of good character, who can read and write and pass the physical examination, may enlist for the term of their minority. They enlist as third- class apprentices, and are given six months' instruction at a training station, and thence go to sea in apprentice training vessels. When proficient they are transferred to regular cruising vessels as second class, and when further qualified are rated first class. All other enlistments are for four years. Recruits must speak English. Landsmen are usually sent to sea on special training-ships until proficient, and are then sent into general service. Raw recruits may enlist as landsmen, or coal-passers or mess attendants. Ordinary seamen must have served two years, and seamen four years before the mast, prior to first enlistment as such; and before enlistment in any other rating allowed on first enlistment, applicants must prove their ability to hold such rating. Landsmen, coal-passers, &c., as soon as they become proficient, are advanced to higher grades, and, if American citizens, may eventually become petty officers (ranking with army non-commissioned officers), with acting appointments. In twelve months, or as soon thereafter as proficiency is established, the acting appointment is made permanent, and an acting appointment for the next higher grade is issued, &c. Permanent appointments are not revokable except by sentence of court-martial, and a man re-enlists in that rating for which he held a permanent appointment in his previous enlistment. All persons re-enlisting within four months after expiration of previous enlistment are entitled to a bounty equal to four months' pay, and in addition receive a ``continuous service certificate,'' which entitles them to higher pay and to other special considerations. The same is true for each re-enlistment. When an enlisted man completes thirty years' service and is over fifty years of age he may retire on three-fourths pay.
The Marine corps (see MARINES) is a wholly separate military body, but it is under the control of the Navy Department.
United States naval vessels are, as a rule, built at private yards under contracts awarded after competition. The government is not committed to any fixed policy or building programme. Each year the secretary recommends certain new construction. The final action rests with Congress, which must appropriate money for the new ships before the construction can be commenced. Repairing and reconstruction are usually done at government navy yards.
Ships in commission are distributed among five stations: (1) the North Atlantic, i.e. the Atlantic coast of the United States, Central America, and South America as far as the Amazon, also the West Indies; (2) the South Atlantic, i.e. the remainder of the Atlantic coast of South America and both coasts of South Africa; (3) the European, comprising the coast of Europe, including the inland seas, and the North Atlantic coast of Africa; (4) the Asiatic station, comprising the coast of Asia, including the islands north of the equator, also the east coast of North Africa; (5) the Pacific station, comprising the Pacific coast of North and South America, and Australia and the adjacent islands lying south of the equator. Each station is commanded by a flag officer, and the number of ships under the command varies according to circumstances. Ships in commission on special service, such as training, gunnery, surveying ships, &c., are not attached to stations. The shore stations of the navy are enumerated in the article on DOCKYARDS. (W. T. S.)
ADMIRALTY, HIGH COURT OF. The High Court of Admiralty of England was the court of the deputy or lieutenant of the admiral. It is supposed in the Black Book of the Admiralty to have been founded in the reign of Edward I.; but it would appear, from the learned discussion of R. G. Marsden, that it was established as a civil court by Edward III. in the year 1360; the power of the admiral to determine matters of discipline in the fleet, and possibly questions of piracy and prize, being somewhat earlier. Even then the court as such took no formal shape; but the various admirals began to receive in their patents express grants of jurisdiction with powers to appoint lieutenants or deputies. At first there were separate admirals or rear-admirals of the north, south and west, each with deputies and courts. A list of them was collected by Sir H. Spelman. These were merged in or absorbed by one high court early in the 15th century. Sir Thomas Beaufort, afterwards earl of Dorset and duke of Exeter (appointed admiral of the fleet 1407, and admiral of England, Ireland and Aquitaine 1412, which latter office he held till his death in 1426), certainly had a court, with a marshal and other officers, and forms 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 Hen. IV. c. 11 (1400).
Jurisdiction.
The original 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 deal with questions of prize; but civil jurisdiction soon followed. The jurisdiction in criminal matters was transferred by the Offences at Sea Act 1536 to the admiral or his deputy and three or four other substantial persons appointed by the lord chancellor, who were to proceed according to the course of the common law. By the Central Criminal Court Act 1834, 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 assize; and crimes done within the jurisdiction of the admiralty are now tried as crimes committed within the body of a county. See also the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts of 1861.
From the time of Henry IV. the only legislation affecting the civil jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty till the time of Queen 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 warden of the Cinque Ports, their lieutenants and judges, co-ordinate power with other judges to enforce forfeitures under that act—a very curious and miscellaneous statute called ``An Act for the Maintenance of the Navy.''
In an act of 1534, with regard to ecclesiastical appeals from the courts of the archbishops to the crown, it is provided that the appeal shall be to the king in Chancery, ``and that upon every such appeal a commission shall be directed under the great seal to such persons as shall be named by the king's 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 council and then to the judicial 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 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 foreign parts led to the gradual introduction of a procedure resembling that coming into use on the continent and based on the Roman civil law. The Offences at Sea Act 1536 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 laws, the nature whereof is that before any judgment of death can be given against the offenders, either they must plainly confess their offences (which they will never do without torture or pain), or else their offences be so plainly and directly proved by witness indifferent such as saw their offences committed, which cannot be gotten but by chance at few times.''
Restraining Acts.
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 realm, but only of a thing done upon the sea, as it hath been used in the time of the noble 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 land as by water, and also of 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, determined, discussed and remedied by the laws of the land, and not before nor by the admiral, nor his lieutenant in anywise. Nevertheless, of the death of a man, and of a maihem done in great ships, being and hovering in the main stream of great rivers, only beneath the [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 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. 11) adds nothing by way of definition or restriction, but merely gives additional remedies against encroachments, providing heavy fines for those who improperly 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 Richard, except the enabling part of the second, were repealed by the Civil Procedure Acts Repeal Act 1879. The formation of a High Court of Justice rendered them obsolete.
In the reign of 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 stage. We find the records of it in the second volume of Marsden's Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty, and in Lord Coke's writings: Reports, part xiii. 51; Institutes, part iv. 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 Bench and the judge of the admiralty, the judges of the common law courts successfully maintained their right to prohibit suits in admiralty upon contracts made on shore, or within havens, or creeks, or tidal rivers, if the 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 rate as regards contracts made in partibus transmarinis, the same rule appears to have been applied at least as early as 1544, the judges then holding that ``for actions transitory abroad action may lie at common law.''
Judge's patent.
All the while, however, the patents of the admiralty judge purported to confer on him a far ampler jurisdiction than the jealousy of the other courts would concede to him. The patent of the last judge of the court, Sir Robert Joseph Phillimore, dated the 23rd of August 1867, styles him ``Lieut. Off. Princ. and Commissary Gen. and Special in our High Court of Admiralty of Eng. and 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, policies of assurance, loading of ships, and all other matters and contracts which relate to freight due for the use of ships, transportation, money or 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 mark, or upon any of the shores or 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 vice-admirals; also ``to arrest . . . according to the civil laws and 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 kingdom . . . as of whatsoever fishes increasing in the rivers''; also ``to reform nets too straight and other unlawful engines and 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 coroner [1276], and concerning pillages [1353], and ``the cognizance of mayhem'' within the ebb and flow of the tide; all in as ample manner and form as they were enjoyed by Dr David Lewis [judge from 1558 to 1584], Sir Julius Caesar, and the other judges in order (22 in all) before Sir Robert Phillimore. This form of patent differs in but few respects from the earlier Latin patents —tempore Henry VIII.—except that they have a clause non obstantibus statutis.
Modern progress.
As has been said, however, the contention of the common law judges prevailed, and the Admiralty Court (except for a temporary revival under Cromwell) sank into comparative insignificance during the 17th century. The great maritime wars of the 18th century gave scope to the exercise of its prize jurisdiction; and its international importance as a prize court in the latter half of the 18th and the first part of the 19th centuries is a matter of common historical knowledge. There were upwards of 1000 prize causes each year between 1803 and 1811, in some years upwards of 2000.
There were other great judges; but Sir William Scott, afterwards Lord Stowell, is the most famous. Before his time there were no reports of admiralty cases, except 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 side.
In the reign of Queen Victoria, two enabling statutes, 1840 and 1861, were passed and greatly enlarged the jurisdiction of the court. The manner in which these statutes were administered by Dr Stephen Lushington and Sir R. J. Phillimore, whose tenure of office covered the whole 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 House, the great increase of shipping, especially of steam shipping, and the number and gravity of cases of collision, salvage and damage to cargo, restored the activity of the court and made it one of the most important tribunals of the 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 principal officers of the court in subordination to the judge were the registrar (an office which always points to a connexion with canon or civil law), and the marshal, who acted as the maritime sheriff, having for his baton of office a silver oar. The assistance of the Trinity Masters, which has been already mentioned, was provided for in the charter of incorporation of the Trinity House. These officers and their assistance have been preserved in the High Court of Justice.
Practitioners in the court.
Till the year 1859 the practitioners in the High Court of Admiralty were the same as those in the ecclesiastical courts and distinct from those who practised in the ordinary courts. Advocates took the place of barristers, and proctors of solicitors. The place of the attorney-general was taken by the king's or queen's advocate-general, and that of the treasury solicitor by the king's or queen's procurator or 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 standing adviser in matters of international and foreign law. The king's advocate led the bar of his courts, and before the privy council took precedence of the attorney-general. The admiralty advocate or advocate to his 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 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 Parker 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 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 Alexander Staveley 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 barrister appointed by the attorney-general) perform the duties of all these offices.
Judge advocate of the Fleet.
The judge advocate of the fleet is a practising barrister whose function it is to advise the admiralty on all matters connected with courts-martial. Though section 61 of the Naval Discipline Act 1866 recognizes the possibility of his presence at a court-martial, he does not nowadays attend, but is represented by his deputy or by an officiating deputy judge advocate appointed ad hoc by the admiralty, the commander-in-chief of the fleet or squadron who convenes the court-martial, or, if no such 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 minute of the 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 evidence is taken, are to be referred to him, with a view to the consideration of (a) the charge, (b) the evidence on which the finding is based, and (c) the legality of the sentence, and he writes a minute on each case for the 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 sec. 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 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 opinion. The judge advocate of the fleet receives no fees but is remunerated by a salary of L. 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 sec. 61 of the Naval Discipline Act 1866, in the 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 warrant for the court-martial is issued, 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 flag-officer convening the court-martial or some other officer of the accountancy branch. He is remunerated for his services by a fixed fee for each day the court sits.
Ireland. —The High Court of Admiralty of Ireland, being formed on the same pattern as the High Court in England, sat in the Four Courts, Dublin, having a judge, a registrar, a marshal and a king's or queen's advocate. In peace time and 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 1877 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.
Scotland.—At the Union, while the national functions of the lord high admiral were merged in the English office it was provided by the Act of Union that the Court of Admiralty in Scotland should be continued ``for determination of all maritime cases 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 series; R. G. Marsden, Select Pleas in the Court ofAdmiralty, published by the Selden Society; Godolphin,View of the Admiral Jurisdiction. (W. G. F. P.)
1 The Board of Ordnance was originally instituted for the navy, but eventually fell into military hands, to the detriment of the navy —the only navy of any nation that has not full authority over its own ordnance. In 1653, according to Oppenheim, it was, owing to its inefficiency, placed under the admiralty. In 1632 it appears to have been independent, but ``still retained that evil pre-eminence in sloth and incapacity it had already earned and has never since lost.''
2 Admiral Sir Cooper Key, when director of naval ordnance during Mr Childers' administration, observed to the writer that no first lord of the admiralty knew so little of the working of the admiralty as Mr Childers, because, owing to the discontinuance of board meetings, he lost the great advantage of hearing the discussion. (R. V. H.)
3 The drawback is, that a naval lord can only go on leave by throwing all his work on a colleague already overweighted with work.
ADMIRALTY ISLANDS, a group of about forty islands lying north of New Guinea, between 1 deg. and 3 deg. S., and 146 deg. and 148 deg. E., within the Bismarck Archipelago, belonging to Germany. The largest, Manus, is about 60 m. in length, and its highest point is about 3000 ft. above the sea; the others are very small, and rise little above sea-level. Most are of coral formation, but the hills of Manus are believed to be extinct volcanoes. The islands were discovered by the Dutch in 1616, and visited in 1767 by Philip Carteret; but no landing seems to have been effected, owing to the surrounding reefs, until the arrival of the ``Challenger'' in 1875. The natives are of the Papuan type, but show signs of mixed origin. They are cannibals, and many murders of whites have taken place.
ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION. The courts by which, as far as we know, admiralty jurisdiction in civil matters was first exercised were the following. In and throughout England the courts of the several admirals soon combined into one High Court of Admiralty (see ADMIRALTY, HIGH COURT OF.) Within the territories of the Cinque Ports the Court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports exercised a co-ordinate jurisdiction. In certain towns and places there were local courts of vice-admiralty. In Scotland there existed the Scottish High Court of Admiralty, in Ireland the Irish High Court of Admiralty. Of these courts that of the Cinque Ports alone remains untouched. The Scottish court was abolished, and its civil jurisdiction given to the Court of Session and to the courts of the sheriffs by the Court of Session Act 1830—not, however, till a decision given by it and the appeal therefrom to the House of Lords had established a remarkable rule of admiralty law in cases of collision (Hay v. le Neve, 1824, 2 Shaw, Sc. App. Cas. 395). The act states that the Court of Justiciary held cumulative jurisdiction with the Court of Admiralty in criminal matters. The local vice-admiralty courts in England had ceased to do much work when they were abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835; the High Court became, with the other superior courts, a component part of the High Court of Justice by virtue of the Judicature Acts 1873 and 1875. And the Irish court has in like manner become a part of the High Court of Justice in Ireland by virtue of the Judicature Act passed in 1877.
Vice-Admiralty Courts.
As England first, and Great Britain afterwards, acquired colonies and possessions beyond seas, vice-admiralty courts were established. The earliest known was that in Jamaica, established in the year 1662. Some vice- admiralty courts which were created for prize purposes in the last century were suffered to expire after 1815. In the year 1863, when the act regulating the vice-admiralty courts was passed, there were vice-admiralty courts at Antigua, Bahamas, Barbadoes, Bermuda, British Columbia, British Guiana, British Honduras, Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Gambia River, Gibraltar, Gold Coast, Grenada, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Labuan, Lagos, Lower Canada (otherwise Quebec), Malta, Mauritius, Montserrat, Natal, Nevis, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, New South Wales, New Zealand, Nova Scotia (otherwise Halifax), Prince Edward Island, Queensland, St Christopher, St Helena, St Lucia, St Vincent, Sierra Leone, South Australia, Tasmania, Tobago, Trinidad, Vancouver's Island, Victoria, Virgin Islands (otherwise Tortola), and Western Australia, and (for matters of the slave trade only) Aden. By the act of 1867 one for the Straits Settlements was added. These courts have been regulated from time to time by the following statutes: 2 and 3 Will. IV. c. 51, 26 and 27 Vict. c. 24 (Vice-Admiralty Courts Act 1863), already cited, and 30 and 31 Vict. c. 45 (Vice-Admiralty Courts Act Amendment Act 1867); and by the slave trade acts, of which the last and consolidating act was that of 1873.
In 1890 the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act provided that, except in the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, St Helena and British Honduras, vice-admiralty courts should be abolished, and a substitution made of colonial courts of admiralty. There is power, however, reserved to the crown to erect through the admiralty in any British possession any vice-admiralty court, except in India or any British possession having a representative legislature. No vice-admiralty court so established can exercise any jurisdiction except for some purpose relating to prize, the royal navy, the slave trade, foreign enlistment, Pacific Islanders' protection, and questions relating to treaties or conventions on international law. Vice-admiralty courts exercised all usual admiralty jurisdiction, and in addition a certain revenue jurisdiction, and jurisdiction over matters of slave trade and prize and under the Pacific Islanders' Protection Act. The appeal from vice-admiralty courts used to lie to the High Court of Admiralty of England, but has been transferred to the king in council.
Colonial Courts of Admiralty.
By the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890, already referred to, every court of law in a British possession which is declared by its legislature to be such, or if there be no such declaration, which has original unlimited civil jurisdiction, shall be a court of admiralty.
India.
There used at one time to be vice-admiralty courts for Calcutta, Madras and Bombay; but by the India High Courts Act 1861, sec. 9, the admiralty jurisdiction is given to the High Courts of these places.
Consular Courts.
Consular courts established in Turkey, China and Japan have had admiralty jurisdiction given to them, and by sec. 12 of the Colonial Admiralty Courts Act any court established by H.M. for the exercise of jurisdiction in any place outside H.M.'s dominion may have admiralty jurisdiction granted to it.
Australia.
By the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 a federal supreme court, to be called the High Court of Australia, is created, and the parliament of the Commonwealth may make laws conferring original jurisdiction on the High Court in matters of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,
The Isle of Man.
There is a court of admiralty in the Isle of Man of which the water-bailiff is judae. He is also styled admiral. It is said to have jurisdiction in salvage and over other maritime matters occurring within 3 leagues from the shore.
County Local Courts.
Modern statutes have given admiralty jurisdiction to the City of London Court, the Court of Passage and to the county courts in the following matters: Salvage, where the value of the salved property does not exceed L. 1000, or the claim for reward L. 300; towage, necessaries and wages, where the claim does not exceed L. 150; claims for damage to cargo, or by collision, up to L. 300 (and for sums above these prescribed limits by agreement between the parties); and claims arising out of breaches of charter parties and other contracts for carriage of goods in foreign ships, or torts in respect thereof, up to L. 300. This jurisdiction is restricted to subjects over which jurisdiction was possessed by the High Court of Admiralty at the time when the first of these acts was passed, except as regards the last branch of it (the ``Aline,'' 1880, 5 Ex. Div. 227; R. v. Judge of City of London Court, 1892, 1 Q.B. 272). In analogy with the county court admiralty jurisdiction created in England, a limited admiralty jurisdiction has been given in Ireland to the recorders of certain boroughs and the chairmen of certain quarter sessions; and in salvage cases, where a county court in England would have jurisdiction, magistrates, recorders and chairmen of quarter sessions may have jurisdiction as official arbitrators (Merchant Shipping Act 1894, sec. 547). In Scotland, admiralty suits in cases not exceeding the value of L. 25 are exclusively tried in the sheriff's court; while over that limit the sheriff's court and the Court of Session have concurrent jurisdiction. The sheriff has also criminal admiralty jurisdiction, but only as to crimes which he would be competent to try if committed on land (The Court of Session Act 1830, sec. sec. 21 and 22).
By an act of 1821 an arbitral jurisdiction in cases of salvage was given to certain commissioners of the Cinque Ports.
Appeals.
The appeal from county courts and commissioners is to the High Court of Justice, and is exercised by a divisional court of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division. In cases arising within the Cinque Ports there is an optional appeal to the Admiralty Court of the Cinque Ports. The appeal from the High Court of Justice is in ordinary admiralty matters, as in others, to the Court of Appeal, and from thence to the House of Lords. But it is specially provided by the Judicature Act 1891, as it was by the Prize Act 1864, that the appeal in prize cases shall be to the sovereign in council.
The unfortunate provisions of the legislature, giving to the jurisdiction of county courts different money limits in admiralty equity and common law cases, make the distinction between cases coming under the admiralty jurisdiction and other civil cases of practical moment in those courts. Arguments full of learning and research have been addressed to the courts, and weighty decisions have been given, upon questions which would never have arisen if the county courts had not a larger money area of jurisdiction in admiralty cases than they have in in other matters (R. v. Judge of City of London Court, 1892, 1 Q.B. 273; the ``Zeta,'' 1893, App. Cas. 468). But as regards the high courts, whether in England, Scotland or Ireland, it is not now necessary to distinguish their civil admiralty jurisdiction from their ordinary civil jurisdiction, except for the purpose of seeing whether there can or cannot be process in rem. Not that every admiralty action can of right be brought in rem, but that no process in rem lies at the suit of a subject unless it be for a matter of admiralty jurisdiction—one, for instance, that could in England have been tried in the High Court of Admiralty. Now these matters of admiralty jurisdiction with process in rem range themselves under four primary and four supplementary heads. The four primary are damage, salvage, bottomry, wages; and the four supplementary are extensions due to one or other of the statutes of 1840 (Admiralty Court) and 1861 (Admiralty Court Act). They are damage to cargo carried in a ship, necessaries supplied to a ship, mortgage of ship, and master's claim for wages and disbursements on account of a ship. In all these cases, primary and secondary, the process of which a plaintiff can avail himself for redress, may be either in personam as in other civil suits, or by arrest of the ship, and, in cases of salvage and bottomry, the cargo. Whenever, also, the ship can be arrested, any freight due can also be attached, by arrest of the cargo to the extent only of the freight which it has to pay. For the purpose of ascertaining whether or not process in rem would lie, there have been distinctions as nice, and the line of admiralty jurisdiction has been drawn as carefully, as in the cases of the admiralty jurisdiction of the county courts (the ``Theta,'' 1894, Prob. 280; the ``Gas Float Whitton,'' 1897, App. Cas. 337). There have been similar questions raised in the United States, from De Lovio v. Boit (1815, 2 Gallison, 398), and Ramsay v. Allegre (1827, 12 Wheaton, 611), down to the quite modern cases which will be found quoted in the arguments and judgments in the ``Gas Float Whitton.''
Disciplinary.
The disciplinary jurisdiction at one time exercised by the Admiralty Court, over both the royal navy and merchant vessels, may be said to be obsolete in time of peace, the last remnant of it being suits against merchantmen for flying flags appropriate to men-of-war (the ``Minerva,'' 1800, 3 C. Rob. 34), a matter now more effectively provided against by the Merchant Shipping Act 1894. In time of war, however, it was exercised in some instances as long as the Admiralty Court lasted, and is now in consequence exercisable by the High Court of Justice (see Prize below). It was, perhaps, in consequence of its ancient disciplinary jurisdiction that the Admiralty Court was made the court to enforce certain portions of the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870.
Finally, appeals from decisions of courts of inquiry, under theMerchant Shipping Act, cancelling or suspending the certificatesof officers in the merchant service, may be made to the Probate,Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.
Criminal cases.
The admiralty jurisdiction in criminal matters extends over all crimes committed on board British ships at sea or in tidal waters, even though such tidal waters be well within foreign territory (R. v. Anderson, 1868, L.R. 1 C.C.R. 161), but not over crimes committed on board foreign vessels upon the high seas (R. v. Serva, 1845, 1 Denison C.C. 104). Whether it extended over crimes committed on foreign ships within territorial waters of the United Kingdom, and whether a zone of three miles round the shores of the United Kingdom was for such purpose territorial water, were the great questions raised in R. v. Keyn (the ``Franconia,'' L.R. 2 Ex. Div. 126), and decided in the negative by the majority of the judges, rightly, as the writer of this article respectfully thinks. Since then, however, the legislature has brought these waters within the jurisdiction of the admiralty by the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act 1878. Section 2 runs as follows: ``An offence committed by a person, whether he is or is not a British subject, on the open sea within the territorial waters of British dominions, is an offence within the jurisdiction of the admiral, although it may have been committed on board or by means of a foreign ship, and the person who committed such offence may be arrested, tried and punished accordingly.'' By sec. 7 the ``jurisdiction of the admiral'' is defined as ``including the jurisdiction of the admiralty of England or Ireland, or either of such jurisdictions as used in any act of parliament; and for the purpose or arresting any person charged with an offence declared by this act to be within the jurisdiction of the admiral, the territorial waters adjacent to the United Kingdom, or any other part of her majesty's dominions, shall be deemed to be within the jurisdiction of any judge, magistrate or officer.'' And ``territorial waters of her majesty's dominions'' are defined as ``in reference to the sea, meaning such part of the sea adjacent to the coast of the United Kingdom, or the coast of some other part of her majesty's dominions, as is deemed by international law to be within the territorial sovereignty of her majesty; and for the purpose of any offence declared by this act to be within the jurisdiction of the admiral, any part of the open sea within one marine league of the coast, measured from low-water mark, shall be deemed to be open sea within the territorial waters of her majesty's dominions.'' As to those portions of the sea and tidal waters which, by reason of their partially land-locked positions, are deemed to be in the body of a county, there is not admiralty jurisdiction, but crimes are tried as if they were committed on land within the same county.
Pirates, whatever flag they pretended to fly, were, from 1360 onwards, wherever their crimes were committed, subject to the admiralty jurisdiction. The criminal jurisdiction of the admiralty was first exercised by the High Court of Admiralty; and then, by virtue of the Offences at Sea Act 1536, transferred to commissioners appointed under the great seal, among whom were to be the admiral or admirals, his or their deputies. Admiralty sessions were held for this purpose till 1834. Admiralty criminal jurisdiction is now, by virtue of the series of statutes, the Offences at Sea Act 1799, the Central Criminal Court Act 1834, Offences at Sea Act 1844, and the criminal law consolidation acts passed in 1861, exercised by the Central Criminal Court and by the ordinary courts of assize. Special provision for trial in the colonies of offences committed at sea has been made by an act of William III. (1698-1699), the Offences at Sea Act 1806, and the Admiralty Offences (Colonial) Act 1849.
Prize.
The Admiralty Court had jurisdiction in matters of prize from very early times; and although since the middle of the 17th century the instance, or ordinary civil jurisdiction of the court, has been kept distinct from the prize jurisdiction, they were originally both administered and regarded as being within the ordinary jurisdiction of the lord high admiral. The early records of the admiralty show that the origin of the prize jurisdiction is to be traced to the power given to the court of the admiral to try cases of piracy and ``spoil,'' i.e. captures of foreign ships by English ships. The earliest recorded case of spoil tried before the admiral is in 1357, when the goods of a Portuguese subject, taken at sea by Englishmen from a French ship which had previously spoiled a Portuguese, were awarded by the admiral as good prize to the English captors; and Edward III. in a letter to the king of Portugal answering a complaint on the subject gives the admiral's decision as a reason for refusing their restoration. During the 16th century a very large part of the business of the Admiralty Court related to spoil and piracy, and the privy council often directed the judge of the court how to deal with the spoil cases, with regard to which foreigners who had suffered from attacks by English ships made petition for redress to the admiral or the council. The spoil suit at this time (causa spolii) was a civil proceeding resulting in a decree absolutoria, dismissing the defendant, or condemnatoria, ordering restoration to be made by him. In 1585 the patent of Howard, the lord high admiral, authorized him to issue letters of reprisal against Spain; and an order in council regulating the conduct of those to whom such letters were issued provided by an additional article (1859) that all prizes were to be brought in without breaking of bulk for adjudication by the Admiralty Court. The court was also resorted to at this time by captors, sailing under commissions granted by the allies of England, such as the king of France and the Dutch. About the middle of the 17th century separate sittings of the court for instance and prize business began, perhaps because of the conflicting claims to droits of Charles II. and the duke of York as lord high admiral; and privateering under royal commission took the place of the former irregular ``spoiling.'' The account which Lord Mansfield gave of the records of the Admiralty Court, that there were no prize act books earlier than 1641, or prize sentences earlier than 1648, and that before 1690 the records were in confusion, must be qualified by the correction that there are in existence prize sentences (on paper, not parchment) as early as 1589.
Although the courts of common law hardly ever seem to have interfered with or disputed the admiralty prize jurisdiction, its exclusive nature was not finally admitted till 1782; but long previously royal ordinances (1512, 1602) and statutes (1661, giving an alternative of commissioners, 1670, 1706) had given the Admiralty Court the only express jurisdiction over prize. The same statute of Anne and acts of 1739 and 1744 give prize jurisdiction to any court of admiralty, and the courts of admiralty for the colonies and plantations in North America.
It has been a disputed question whether the prize jurisdiction of the court was inherent, i.e. coming within the powers given by the general patent of the judge, in which no express mention of it is made, or whether it required a special commission. Upon this subject the judgment of Lord Mansfield in Lindo v. Rodney (1782, Dougl. 612), the judgment of Mr Justice Story in De Lovio v. Boit (1815, 2 Gallison, 398), and Marsden's Select Pleas of the Court of Admiralty (introduction), may be consulted. But the settled practice now and for a long time past has been for a special commission and warrant to be issued for this purpose. In connexion with this it is observable that in 1793 the Admiralty Court of Ireland claimed to exercise prize jurisdiction under its general patent; and it is said to have been the opinion of Sir W. Wynne that the Admiralty Court of Scotland had a similar right (Brown, Civil Law of Admiralty, vol. ii. 211, 212). Any jurisdiction of the Scottish court over prize of war was transferred to the English court by the Court of Session Act 1825, sec. 57. As to the Irish court, by the Act of Union it was provided that there should remain in Ireland an instance court of admiralty for the determination of causes civil and maritime only.
In 1864 the constitution and procedure of prize courts, which had until then been prescribed by occasional acts passed for each war as it arose, were for the first time made permanent by the Naval Prize Act, by which the High Court of Admiralty and every admiralty or vice-admiralty court, or any other court exercising admiralty jurisdiction in British dominions, if for the time being authorized to exercise prize jurisdiction, were made prize courts. The High Court of Admiralty was given jurisdiction throughout British dominions as a prize court, and, as such, power to enforce any order of a vice-admiralty prize court and the judicial committee of the privy council in prize appeals— this power mutatis mutandis being also given to vice-admiralty prize courts. An appeal was given from any prize court to the sovereign in council. Prize courts were given jurisdiction in cases of captures made in a land expedition or an expedition made conjointly with allied forces, and power to give prize salvage on recaptured ships and prize bounty; and a form of procedure was prescribed. The High Court was also given exclusive jurisdiction as a prize court over questions of ransom and petitions of right in prize cases, and power to punish masters of ships under convoy disobeying orders or deserting convoy. By the Naval Discipline Act 1866, power to award damages to convoyed ships exposed to danger by the fault of the officer in charge of the convoy was also given to the High Court. Under other statutes it had power to try questions of booty of war when referred to it by the crown, in the same way as prize causes, and claims of king's ships for salvage on recaptures from pirates, which could be condemned as droits of admiralty, subject to the owner's right to receive them on paying one-eighth of the value, and also power to seize and restore prizes captured by belligerents in violation of British neutrality, or by a ship equipped in British ports contrary to British obligations of neutrality.
All jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty has since passed to the High Court of Justice, which is made a prize court under the Naval Prize Act, with all the powers of the Admiralty Court in that respect; and all prize causes and matters within the jurisdiction of that court as a prize court are assigned to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division; and an appeal from it as a prize court lies only to the king in council (Judicature Acts 1873 and 1891).
By an act of 1894 further provision is made for the constitution of prize courts in British possessions. A commission, warrant or instruction from the crown or the admiralty may be issued at any time, even in peace; and upon such issue, subject to instructions from the crown, the vice-admiral of the possessions on being satisfied by information from a secretary of state that war has broken out between Great Britain and a foreign state, may make proclamation to that effect, and the commission or warrant comes into effect. The commission or warrant may authorize a vice-admiralty court or colonial court of admiralty to act as a prize court, or establish a vice-admiralty court for that purpose, and may be revoked or altered at any time. The court is authorized to act as a prize court during the war, and shall after its conclusion continue to act as such, and finally dispose of all matters and things arising during the war, including all penalties and forfeitures incurred therein. Rules of court may also be made by order in council for regulating, subject to the Naval Prize Act, the procedure and practice of prize courts under that act, the duties and conduct of their officers and practitioners, and the fees and costs therein (Prize Courts Act 1894, sec. sec. 2, 3). This latter power has been exercised; and prize rules for the High Court of Justice and the vice- admiralty prize courts were framed in 1898 (Statutory Rules and Orders, 1898).
AUTHORITIES.—Marsden, Select Pleas of the Court ofAdmiralty, Selden Society, London, 1892 and 1897; Zouch,Jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England asserted; Robinson,Collectanea Maritima; Brown, Admiralty; Edwardes, Admiralty;Phillimore, International Law, vol. i., vol. iii. part xi.;Pritchard, Admiralty Digest, tit. Jurisdiction. (W. G. F. P.)
UNITED STATES The source of admiralty jurisdiction in the United States is Article 3, sec. 2 of the United States Constitution:—``The judicial power shall extend to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.'' The United States Supreme Court has declared that by virtue of these words the admiralty jurisdiction extends not only to the high seas but to the great lakes and the rivers connecting them, and to all public navigable waters in the United States (the ``Genesee Chief'' v. Fitz Hugh, 12 Howards U.S. Rep. 443), including even interstate canals (Ex. p. Boyer, 109 U.S. Rep. 629, the ``Robert W. Parsons,'' [1903] 191 U.S. 17), and is not confined to tide waters. The American colonies had vice-admiralty courts with an admiralty jurisdiction equal to the largest claimed by the English admiralty courts even under Edward III. When they became states they delegated to the federal government their several ``admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,'' using these words in the sense understood in every country in Europe, England excepted, and in the sense in which they had then been used in the colonies for a long time, and without reference to the very narrow jurisdiction of the English admiralty courts then existing (Waring v. Clark, 5 Howards U.S. Rep. 441).