324 //. FROM THE llOO'S TO THE 1800'S treaties with foreign sovereigns. In 1498 a treaty between Henry VII. and Louis XII. stipulates that mariners shall give notice to the Admiral of any spoil which they have taken, and that they are not to dispose of it until the Admiral has adjudged it to be lawful prize. ^ We can see that, from the 16th century, the prize jurisdiction of the court is beginning to be regarded as distinct from the instance jurisdiction.^ Captors sailing under commissions granted by allies of Eng- land, as well as captors sailing under English commissions, resorted to the Admiralty court. " These cases frequently resolved themselves into suits between the respective Ambas- sadors of the powers to which the captor and prize be- longed."^ Prohibitions were not as a rule issued in prize cases.* Shortly after the Restoration the court held distinct sittings for prize business, and the records of such business were kept distinct. It became the custom to issue special commissions to the Admiral at the beginning of a war, re- quiring the judge of his court to hear prize cases. ^ The ordinary commission did not mention this jurisdiction.^ The prize court thus became a court almost entirely distinct from the instance court. Lord Mansfield could say in 1781 that, " the whole system of litigation and jurisprudence in the prize court is peculiar to itself: it is no more like the court of Admiralty than it is to any court in Westminster Hall." ^ The Naval Prize Act of 1864, passed to enact permanently the provisions before usually made at the beginning of a war, gives to the court of Admiralty the jurisdiction of a prize court throughout His Majesty's dominions.^ This jurisdic- tion is now exercised by the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty
- Rhymer, Foedera, xii 690-694; xiv 147-151; cp. a case before the
Council (1589) cited Malynes, Lex Mercatoria, 108, 109. » Select Pleas of the Admiralty ii xvii, xviii. » Select Pleas of the Admiralty ii xvii, 170.
- Lindo V. Rodney (1781) 2 Dougl. 613, 618, 619. In his judgment
Ld. Mansfield gives a complete history of the Prize jurisdiction. Cp. Select Pleas of the Admiralty ii Ixxix. • Lindo V. Rodney 614; re Banda and Kirwee Booty (1866) L. R. 1 A and E 129; 13 Car. II. c. 9; 22, 23 Car. II. c. 11; 6 Anne c. 13. • Possibly the jurisdiction was originally regarded as inherent in the court. In 1793 a claim to this effect was put forward by the Admi- ralty court of Ireland. It is said to have been the opinion of Sir W. Wynne that the Admiralty of Scotland had a similar jurisdiction. » Lindo V. Rodney 614. »27, 28 Vict. c. 25.
