Page images
PDF
EPUB

on shore, (not granted to Lords of Manors adjoining to the sea,) and a share of lawful prizes; also all great fishes, commonly called royal fishes, except whales and sturgeons.*

By the act 2 William and Mary, c. 2. “All the authority, power, and jurisdiction, lawfully vested in the Lord High Admiral, shall be had, enjoyed, exercised, and executed, by the Commissioners for executing that office, to all intents and purposes, as if the said Commissioners were lord high admiral of England."

A VICE-ADMIRAL is an officer appointed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Several of these officers are established in different parts of the British empire, with Judges and Marshals under them, for executing jurisdiction within their respective limits. Their decrees, however, are not final; an appeal lying to the High Court of Admiralty in London, or to the King in Council.

The JUDGE of the ADMIRALTY presides in court as the deputy of the Lord High Admiral.

The COURT of ADMIRALTY is a sovereign court held by the Lord High Admiral, or Lords of the Admiralty, in whose official name or names suits are prosecuted. Here cognizance is taken in various maritime affairs, civil and criminal. The Admiralty has jurisdiction where the common law can give no remedy; and has cognizance of all causes arising wholly upon the sea. All crimes committed on the high seas, &c. are cognizable in this court only, before which they must be tried by judge and jury. But, in civil cases, the mode is different, the decisions being all made according to the civil law.† From the sentences of the judge an appeal lies, in ordinary course, to the King, in Chancery, to be determined by the delegates or persons named in the King's commission, whose sentence shall be final. Appeals from the Vice-admiralty courts in America and elsewhere may be brought before the Court of Admiralty in England, or before the King in Council; but, in case of Prize vessels taken in time of war, in any part of the world, and condemned in any Courts of Admiralty or Vice-admiralty as lawful prize, the appeal lies to certain commissioners of appeals, consisting chiefly of the Privy Council, and not to the judges delegates; and this by virtue of Treaties with Foreign Nations, by which particular courts are established for the decision of this question, Whether lawful prize, or not? For this being a question between subjects of different states, it belongs entirely to the law of nations, and not to the municipal laws of either country to determine.

* But the perquisites are now, on every new commission being made out, resigned by some deed or writing to the crown. Hence, as the admiralty has jurisdiction, where a ship founders or is split at sea, over the goods that become flotsham, jettison, or jetsham, and lagan, and is to determine what are so, the King may claim such goods when a ship perishes and the owners are unknown.

Flotsham goods are those floating upon the sea after a ship perishes; jettison or jetsham, those thrown overboard to lighten a ship; and lagan means those heavy enough to sink when thrown overboard, but which have a buoy attached to them that they may be found again.

Captures made prior to a declaration of hostilities, a practice too common in modern warfare, are termed droits of admiralty, and are not given as lawful prize to the captors, but are, in fact, claimed and applied as droits (rights) of the King; yet a proportion, determined by order in council, is generally allowed, according to circumstances.

+ The common law is the established law of one particular country; but the civil law, which may be considered as the law of nations in general, is that code which has been compiled from the best laws of Rome and Greece, and which were observed throughout the Roman dominions for about 1200 years.

The Admiralty is said to be no court of record, by reason of its proceeding according

to the civil law,

Every Court of Admiralty in Europe is governed by the civil law; and sentences of any Admiralty in another kingdom are to be credited here, that ours may be credited there; but if any person be aggrieved by any sentence, or interlocutory decree, that has the force of a definitive sentence, he may petition the King, who may cause the complaint to be examined, and if he finds just cause, may send to his Ambassador, where the sentence was given, to demand redress; and upon failure thereof, will grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal: Raym. 473.

By act of the 39 Geo. III. all offences committed upon the high seas, out of the body of any county, are declared to be offences of the same nature respectively, as if they had been committed upon shore. Hence all offences committed on the high seas are now heard and determined before a jury, as at common law.

And, by the 45 Geo. III. c. 72. a session of Oyer and Terminer, and gaol delivery, for the trial of offences committed on the high seas, within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England, shall be held twice, at the least, in every year at the Justice-hall, in the Old Bailey, London, (except during the sessions for London and Middlesex,) or at such other place as the Admiralty, by an order in writing, shall appoint.

Offences committed out of the realm may be alleged to be committed in any county in England, in the same manner, to all intents, as if actually done or committed within the body of such county. 45 Geo. III. c. 72. See also 46 Geo. III. c. 54. by which all offences committed on the seas may be tried in any of his Majesty's islands, by virtue of the king's commission, and the same power is extended by 5 Geo. IV. c. 113. to offences committed in Africa against the laws for abolishing the Slave Trade. See also as to some offences, 58 Geo. III. c. 38.

The Admiralty has jurisdiction in cases of Freight, Mariners' Wages, and breach of Charter-party, (if the penalty be not demanded,) although made within the realm; and likewise in cases of building, repairing, and victualling ships, &c. so as the suit be against the ship, and not against the parties only. 2 Cro. 216. See Seamen and Seamen's Wages, CHAP. III.

By authority of the Admiralty, the majority of part-owners may send a ship upon a voyage to sea, as shown in CHAP. I. against the consent of the rest; but if the ship be lost, the loss will fall upon the adventurers, and they must answer to the non-consenting owners accordingly. In this case the Admiralty takes stipulation in nature of recognizance; that court is at all times open for applications from part-owners to restrain the sailing of ships without their consent, until security given to the amount of their respective shares; but, as has been previously observed, where the shares are not ascertained, the Admiralty Court has no jurisdiction; but the Court of Chancery will exercise a concurrent jurisdiction by injunction, till the share of the party complaining be ascertained, and security given to the amount.

If any one be sued in the Admiralty contrary to certain statutes of 13 & 15 Richard II. he may have a supersedeas to cause the judge to stay proceedings, and also have an action against the party suing.

No ship can be arrested by Admiralty process without regular suit. Salk. 31, 32.

CHAPTER V.

MEDITERRANEAN PASSES.

PROCLAMATION, 20 Nov. 1819.

AFTER declaring a time when all former Passes should be given up, (since passed,) it proceeds :

And all his Majesty's subjects, who are or shall be possessed of any such passes, shall, on or before the expiration of the periods herein-before mentioned respectively, return the same into the office of the Admiralty of Great Britain, or to the respective Collectors of Customs at the out ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or to the Governors of some of his Majesty's foreign plantations or dominions, in order to their being cancelled; and they are to furnish themselves with passes of the new form under the hands and seals of the Commissioners for executing the office of High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in lieu thereof, for their several ships and vessels, according to the Treaties subsisting between his Majesty and the governments on the coast of Barbary, and the regulations made by King George I., by Order in Council on the 14th June, 1722, so far as the same remains unaltered by the regulations made by our Orders in Council bearing date respectively on the 28th day of August, 1776, on the 31st day of December, 1783, the 3rd day of November, 1802, or our Order in Council of this day's date, and according to the further regulations then and there made, and our instructions given to the said Commissioners for executing the office of High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland, touching the same And whereas many ships and vessels belonging to his Majesty's subjects continue several years trading from port to port in the Mediterranean, without returning home, whereby they cannot so conveniently procure the passes to be exchanged; We do hereby, for the ease of our trading subjects, declare, that upon the application of any owner of any ship or vessel, or other substantial merchant, to the office of the Admiralty of Great Britain, and oath made by him of the property of such ship or vessel, and that three-fourths of the company are our subjects, according to an act made in the 12th year of King Charles II., intituled "An Act for encouraging and increasing of Shipping and Navigation," or such other proportion as may be authorized by act of parliament, and upon entering into a bond for the return of such pass at the end of the period therein specified, it shall and may be lawful for the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or the High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the time being, and they are respectively empowered to make out a new pass for such ship or vessel, and send the same to such of our Consuls in the Mediterranean as the said owner or merchant shall desire, with directions to such Consul, that, upon application to him from the master of the ship, for which the pass is made out, and surrendering up his old pass, and entering into bond for the return of such new pass, he shall deliver out the said new pass to such master, and transmit the old one, with the bond, to the office of Admiralty of Great Britain: And in order more effectually to hinder, for the future, any abuses that may be attempted by foreigners relating to the new passes to be issued as aforesaid: We do hereby further declare, that the new form of passes marked (A.), as recommended to us by the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in their memorial bearing date the 8th September last, and approved by us, by our Order in Council of this day's date, shall be issued from and after the 1st of January next, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and as soon after in his Majesty's colonies as the same may be received at each colony respectively; and that passes issued in the United Kingdom, of the above-mentioned form, shall be in force during the voyage for which the said passes shall be taken out, and no longer, and shall be returned at the termination of such voyage to the Commissioners of Customs, or to their chief officer at one of the out ports, provided such voyage shall terminate in

Now the 6 Geo. IV. c. 109.

the United Kingdom, or to the Governor or Lieutenant Governor in any of the islands Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, or Man; and in case such voyage shall terminate in any of his Majesty's possessions abroad, then that such passes shall be delivered up to the Governor or other person having chief authority there; but if such voyage shall ter minate at any place out of his Majesty's dominions, then such pass shall be delivered up to his Majesty's Consul or his deputy at such place, or who may be nearest theretog and that passes to be issued in his Majesty's colonies or possessions abroad shall in like manner be in force during the voyage or voyages for which they shall be taken out respectively, and no longer, and shall be returned at the termination of such voyage or voyages respectively, in the manner hereinbefore directed, according to the port or place in which such voyage or voyages shall terminate respectively; and that in all cases whatever of passes to be issued, such surety, by way of bond, shall be given to secure the due return of the passes, and to guard against any fraudulent or improper use of them, as hath been usual, or as the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or the High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the time being, may deem necessary to require, according to the circumstance of the case.

And whereas it has been recommended to us, by the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, that for the more effectual prevention of abuses, and for the diminution of expence, it may be convenient, in certain cases, that passes to be granted for the purposes afore said, should be united with the ship's Certificate of Registry; Our will and pleasure is, that if any person shall be desirous of having the Mediterranean pass annexed to the certificate of registry of his ship, such pass so annexed may be issued agreeably to the form (B.) recommended to us by the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in their memorial as aforesaid; and that such pass shall not be separated from such certificate of regis try, but shall be returned at the same time when such certificate of registry shall be delivered up to be cancelled; and as often as any new certificate of registry shall be granted, an annexed pass shall also be granted under the same conditions, if the party shall be desirous thereof.

But whereas the laws for the registry of British shipping do not apply to ships belonging to Gibraltar and Malta; and whereas it is expedient that passes granted to the ships of the said places, should be accompanied by some document, proving that they belong to his Majesty's subjects in his Majesty's said possessions respectively;" It is Our further will and pleasure, that the Governors or Deputy Governors of the said Possessions respectively, who shall be authorized to issue passes, shall issue them only in the form marked (Č.), as recommended to us by the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in their memorial as aforesaid, and that the said Governors or Deputy Governors shall issue them only to such ships as shall be certified (in such manner as we shall be pleased by any Order or Orders in Council to direct) to belong to our subjects, and to the possessions under their respective governments; except that when any ship, having a pass issued in the United Kingdom, or in any of his Majesty's colonies, the time of which pass shall have expired, and which by these regulations ought to be returned, or where the owner or master of a ship, having a British certificate of registry, shall be desirous of obtaining a Mediterranean pass, the Governors or Deputy Governors as aforesaid, may grant for such ship a pass of the form aforesaid, marked (C.), to be in force to the end of the ship's then voyage, and no longer, and to be returned to be cancelled at the end of such voyage, as herein-before directed in other cases respectively; and the said Governors or Deputy Governors shall sign their names in the margin of all passes issued by them respectively, as specified in the said form; and in all cases the Governors or Deputy Governors issuing such passes, shall take a bond (as above directed) for the delivery up of such pass on the first ensuing arrival of such ship in any port of the United Kingdom, or of a British possession of which the Governor or Deputy Governor may be authorized to issue passes.

It is our further will and pleasure, that for the more convenient issue of such passes, the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or the High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the time being, shall be authorized to furnish to the Commissioners of Customs in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and to the Governors of his Majesty's colonies, and of Gibraltar and Malta, passes of the necessary forms, signed and executed by the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or the High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the time being, in blank as to the

• But see the 7 and 8 Geo. IV. c. 56. page 386.

« PreviousContinue »