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IV. COURTS OF ADMIRALTY SESSIONS.

13 RICHARD II. stat. 2, c. 5.] What things the admiral and 13 RICH. II. his deputy shall meddle.'

ENGL. [A.D. 1389.]

Forasmuch as a great and com

stat. 2, c. 5. Engl stat.

1380.

13 Richard II. stat. 2, c. 5.] mon clamour and complaint has been oftentimes made before this time, and yet is, for that the admirals and their deputies hold their sessions within divers places of this realm, as well within franchise as without, accroaching to them greater authority than belongeth to their office, in prejudice of our lord the king, and the commons law of the realm, and in diminishing of divers franchises, and in destruction and impoverishing of the common people: It is accorded and assented, That the The admiral admirals and their deputies shall not meddle, from henceforth, meddle with of any thing done within the realm, but only of a thing done upon the sea, as it hath been used in the time of the noble land. prince, king Edward, grandfather of our lord the king that now is.

shall not

things done upon the

15 RICHARD II. c. 3.] In what places the admirals' jurisdiction 15 Rich. II. doth lie.

ENGL. [A.D. 1391.]

15 Richard II. c. 3.] Item at the great and grievous complaint of all the commons made to our lord the king, in this present parliament, for that the admirals and their deputies do

This office of admiral, irrespective of naval distinctions, has been, time out of mind, exercised in England by a high officer, or magistrate, appointed by the crown, by the title of lord high admiral, having the government of the royal navy, and (in his court of admiralty) the determining of all causes belonging to the sea and to offences committed thereon. The office was last held by the duke of Clarence, anterior to his accession as William IV. to the crown of Great Britain and Ireland [1830]. It is now, and has usually been, executed by commissioners, who, by statute 2, William and Mary (Post), have the same authority as the lord high admiral. The judicial and executive functions of this

office have long been separated. The
commissioners, usually six in number,
are removable at pleasure of the crown,
and retire on each political change of
ministry. The duties of the lord high
admiral, or "the commissioners for exe-
cuting his office," are now confined to the
executive government and discipline of
the navy and maritime forces of the
united kingdom and its colonies, and to
matters connected with trade and navi-
gation, given to them by statute.
The judicial functions are vested in a
judge or delegate, who presides as judge
in the high court of admiralty of Eng-
land for the trial of all matters in his
jurisdiction. Vide Stats, post. Also vol.
ii. Tit., COURTS OF VICE ADMY.

c. 3. Engl. stat.

1391.

c. 3.

1391.

ral's juris

diction.

15 RICH. II. encroach to them divers jurisdictions, franchises, and many Engl. stat. other profits pertaining to our lord the king, and to other lords, cities, and boroughs, other than they were wont or ought to have of right, to the great oppression and impoverishment of all the commons of the land, and hindrance and loss of the king's profits, and of many other lords, cities, and boroughs through The admi- the realm, It is declared, ordained, and established, That of all manner of contracts, pleas and quarrels, and all 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 the 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 sea, and in none other places of the same rivers, the admirals 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.

27 HENRY VIII. c. 4. Engl. stat. 1535.

27 HENRY VIII. c. 4.] For pirates and robbers on the sea.1 ENGL. [A.D. 1535.]

27 Henry VIII. c. 4. [Confirmed and extended by 28 Henry VIII. c. 15, Post,] sec. 1. Where pirates, thieves, robbers and

The jurisdiction of the commissioners appointed under the 28 Henry VIII. c. 15, was confined by it to treasons, felonies, robberies, murders, and confederacies; and, therefore, the 39 Geo. III. c. 39 (Post), declares it expedient that other offences committed on the high seas should be tried in like manner. And as persons tried for murder under the 28 Henry VIII. could not, under that statute, be found guilty of manslaughter, and, where the circumstances made the crime manslaughter, were acquitted entirely, the 39 Geo. III. c. 37, expressly enacts that where persons, tried for murder or manslaughter committed on the high seas, are found guilty of manslaughter only, they shall be subject to the same punishment as if they had committed such manslaughter upon the land. The 28 Henry VIII., c. 15, merely altered the mode of trial in the admiralty court, and its jurisdiction still continues to rest on the same foundations

as it did before that statute. This court is regulated by the civil law, et per consuetudines marinas, grounded on the law of nations, which may possibly give to it a jurisdiction with which our common law is not able to invest it. Per Mansfield, C. J. I. Taunt. 29. Neither of these statutes, however, take away any jurisdiction as to the trial of offences which might have been tried in a court of common law; and therefore an indictment for a conspiracy on the high seas is triable at common law on proof of an overt act on shore in the county where the venue is laid. 4 East, 164. If a pistol be fired on shore, which kills a man at sea, the offence is properly triable at the admiralty sessions, because the murder is in law committed where the death occurs. 1 East, p. c. 367; 1 Leach, 383; 12 East, 264; 2 Hale, 17, 20. But if, on the other hand, a man be stricken upon the high sea, and die upon shore after the reflux of the water, the admiral,

VIII. c. 4.

1535.

murtherers upon the sea, many times escape unpunished, because 27 HENRY the trial of their offences hath heretofore been ordered before Engl. stat. the admiral, or his lieutenant or commissary, 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 offence (which they will never do without torture or pains), or else their offences be so plainly and directly proved by witnesses indifferent, such as saw their offences committed, which cannot be gotten but by chance at few times, because such offenders commit their offences upon the sea, and at many times murther and kill such persons being in the ship or boat where they commit their offences, which should bear witness against them in that behalf, and also such as should bear witness be commonly mariners and shipmen, which for the most part cannot be gotten, ne had always ready to testify such offences, because of their often voyages and passages in the seas, by virtue of this commission, has no cognizance of that felony. 2 Hale, 17, 20; 1 East, p. c. 365, 366. And being doubtful whether it could be tried at common law, the statute - provides that the offender may be indicted in the county where the party died. At common law if a man be killed upon any arm of the sea where land is seen on both sides, the coroner is to inquire of it, and not the admiral; for the county may take cognizance of it; and where a county may inquire, the admiral hath no jurisdiction. 3 Rep. 107. So all ports and havens are infra corpus comitatus; and the admiral hath no jurisdiction of anything done in them, unless otherwise controlled by statute.

Bl. Com. 4, 268, 269. Note, and
Stats. (Post.)

Since the repeal of the island act, 33 Car. II., c. 8, as to pirates, the constitution of this court, in Jamaica, is derived by commission from the crown, under the great seal, in pursuance of the stat. 46 Geo. III., c. 54. (Post.) Under this stat. letters patent from the crown, bearing date February, 1815, were transmitted to Jamaica, directed to the governor, the lieutenant-governor, the judge of the court of vice admiralty, the chief justice, senior member of the council, the commander-in-chief of the naval forces, and all admirals, captains, or commanders of ships within the jurisdiction. Of this number three form a court, of whom the judge of the vice admiralty court is required to be one. His assistants are generally the assistant judges, or such naval officers as are then on the station. The court generally sits at Kingston, and as often as occasion requires. The admiralty sessions are held less frequently in Jamaica, in consequence of their formidable expense

hitherto, and also because of local acts,
which give to the supreme court and
court of assize, concurrent jurisdiction
with the courts of vice admiralty, over
offences committed on the high seas. A
jurisdiction had been given them by
British statutes, for the trial of felonies
and misdemeanours against the laws for
the abolition of the slave trade. The
jurisdiction under both commissions is
over offences committed on the high
seas; but the commissioners under the
letters patent had the additional powers
of trying offences against the laws for
the abolition of the slave trade. Offences
are tried before either jurisdiction, ac-
cording to the course of the common
law, and with the assistance of a grand
and petty jury. A prisoner has the
benefit of challenge to the same extent
as upon a trial for an offence committed
upon land. If judgment is not arrested
by the court, the sentence of the law is
passed, and the judge of the vice ad-
miralty court lays the sentences before
the governor, stating the opinion of the
court upon each particular case. Any
favourable recommendation of the jury
is also made known. The sentences
passed by the commissioners can only be
averted by the exercise of the prerogative
of pardon, which resides with the gover-
nor, except in cases of treason and
murder, when the governor can only
reprieve until the pleasure of his majesty
is signified.

The officers of this court are the clerk
of arraigns and the marshal, who are also
the officers of the court of vice admiralty.
The appointment of the latter is perma-
nent; the former is nominated by the
judge of the court of vice admiralty,
upon a commission being issued.

[Rep. Com. of W. India Eng. 1827.]

VIII. c. 4.

1535.

persons

upon the

heard and

27 HENRY without long tarrying or protraction of time, and great costs and Engl. stat. charges, as well of the king's highness, as of such as would pursue such offenders: For reformation whereof, be it enacted, That Before what all such offences done in or upon the sea, or in any other haven, offences river or creek where the admiral or admirals pretend to have committed jurisdiction, shall be inquired, tried, heard and determined in sea shall be such shires and places in this realm as shall be limited by the determined. king's commission to be directed for the same, in like form and condition as if such offences had been done on the land; and that such commissions shall be had under the king's great seal, directed to the lord admiral or admirals, or to his or their lieutenant, deputy or deputies, and to three or four such other substantial persons as shall be named by the lord chancellor for the time being, as often as need shall require, to hear and determine such offences after the common course of the laws of the land used for felonies done and committed within this realm.

By what jurors the same offences shall

of.

2. Such persons to whom such commissions shall be directed, or three of them at the least, shall have full power and be inquired authority to inquire of such offences, by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men, inhabited in the shire limited in their commission, in such like manner and form as if such offences had been committed upon the land within the same shire; and every indictment found and presented before such commissioners, of any felonies, robberies, murthers, or manslaughters done upon the seas, or in or upon any other haven, river, or creek, shall be good and effectual in the law; and if any person or persons happen to be indicted for any such offence done or hereafter to be done upon the seas, or in any other places above limited, then such order, process, judgment, and execution shall be used, had, done, and made, to and against every such person and persons so being indicted, as against felons and murtherers for murther or felony done upon the land, as by the laws of this realm is accustomed; and the trial of such offence, if it be judgment, denied by the offenders, shall be had by twelve men inhabited feiture of in the shire limited within such commission, which shall be

The trial,

offenders.

Things

taken upon

directed as is aforesaid, and no challenge to be had for the hundred; and such as shall be convicted of any such offence, by verdict, confession, or process, by authority of any such commission, shall have and suffer such pains of death, losses of lands, goods, and chattels, as if they had been convict of any felonies or murthers done upon the lands.

4. Provided alway, That this act extend not to be prejudicial the sea by or hurtful to any person or persons for taking of any victuals, necessity. cables, ropes, anchors, or sails, which any such person or persons, compelled by necessity, taketh of or in any other ship, which may conveniently spare the same, so that the same person or persons pay out of hand for the same victual, cables, ropes,

1 Four, 28 Henry VIII., c. 15. (Post.)

VIII. c. 4.

1535.

anchors, or sails, money or money-worth, to the value of the thing 27 HENRY so taken, or deliver for the same a sufficient bill obligatory to be Engl. stat. paid in form following; that is to say, if the taking of the same things be on this side of the straits of Marrock, then to be paid within four months; and if it be beyond the straits of Marrock, then to be paid within twelve months next ensuing the making of such bills; and that the makers of such bills well and truly pay the same debt at the day to be limited within the said bills. 28 HENRY VIII. c. 15.] For pirates.'

ENGL. [1536.]

28 HENRY Engl. stat.

VIII. c. 15.

1534.

28 Henry VIII. c. 15, sec. 1.] Where traytors, pirates, thieves, robbers, murtherers, and confederates upon the sea many times escaped unpunished, because the trial of their offences hath heretofore been ordered, judged and determined before the admiral, or his lieutenant or commissary, 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 pains) 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, because such offenders commit their offences upon the sea, and at many times murther and kill such persons being in the ship or boat where they commit their offences, which should witness against them in that behalf; and also such as should bear witness be commonly mariners and shipmen, which, because of their often voyages and passages in the seas, depart without long tarrying and protraction of time, to the great costs and charges, as well of the king's highness, as such as would pursue such offenders: For reformation whereof, be it enacted, That all treasons, felonies, Trial of robberies, murthers, and confederacies hereafter to be committed offences in or upon the sea, or in any other haven, river, creek, or place upon the where the admiral or admirals, have or pretend to have power, within the authority, or jurisdiction, shall be inquired, tried, heard, deter- jurisdiction, mined, and judged, in such shires and places in the realm, as commission. shall be limited by the king's commission or commissions to be directed for the same, in like form and condition, as if any such offence or offences had been committed or done in or upon the land; and such commissions shall be had under the king's great seal, directed to the admiral or admirals, or to his or their lieutenant, deputy and deputies, and to three or four such other substantial persons, as shall be named or appointed by the lord chancellor of England for the time being, from time to time, and as oft as need shall require, to hear and determine such offences after the common course of the laws of this realm, used for treasons, felonies, murthers, robberies, and confederacies

1 Enlarged by 11 and 12 William III., c. 37; 4 Geo. T., c. 11; 39 Geo. III.,

c. 39; 46 Geo. III., c. 54, and other
acts. (Post.)

committed

sea, or

admiral's

by the king's

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