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.
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 Modern progress.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.
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 Practitioners in the court.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.
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 Judge Advocate
of the Fleet.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 § 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 £500 per annum.
The existence of a deputy judge of the fleet appointed by
