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who appoints a Surrogate to perform the necessary judicial duties.

SECTION VI.

The Commissioners within the Cinque Ports.

jurisdic

The jurisdiction of these commissioners dates from the Their year 1820, and was conferred upon them by statute.1 The tion deLord Warden of the Cinque Ports can nominate three or pends on Cinque more commissioners in each of the Cinque Ports to adjust Ports Act, differences relative to salvage. Where vessels are forced 1821. or cut from their cables and anchors by any accident, and leave the same in any place within the jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports, &c., the commissioners are to determine any salvage claim within twenty-four hours after it is referred to them.2 They have also power to decide upon all claims made by pilots and others for any kind of service rendered to a ship within the jurisdiction, and upon all claims for the saving, within the jurisdiction, of any goods which are wrecked, stranded, or cast away from any ship; and they may decide on such claims for services rendered to shipping, whether the ships were in distress or not. No commissioner can act except in the port in which he resides, or from which his usual place of residence is not distant more than a mile.1

The jurisdiction extends from Seaford to Faversham, Local taking in parts of the coast of Sussex, Kent, and Essex.5

1 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 76.

2 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 76, s. 1.

3 S. 2. The owners of a ship to which salvage services had been rendered within the jurisdiction summoned a meeting of the commissioners to adjudicate upon the amount of salvage. No notice of the intended meeting was given to any of the salvors, but it was proved to be not usual to give such notice: The Elise, Swa. 436.

S. 3. By 9 Geo. IV. c. 37, s. 1, the power of appointing these commissioners may also be exercised by a deputy-warden, or by the Lieutenant of Dover Castle.

5 S. 18.

limits of the jurisdiction.

122

Jurisdic

tion in'

salvage always

preserved. Concur

THE ROYAL COURTS OF JERSEY AND GUERNSEY.

The jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports in cases of salvage is especially preserved by later statutes, though the provisions as to wreck and pilotage have been altered.2

The High Court, and the Court of Admiralty of the rent juris- Cinque Ports, have concurrent jurisdiction with the com

High

Court and
Admiralty

missioners.4

No limit of amount is named in any of the Acts relatCourt of ing to the commissioners.

the Cinque

Ports.

No limit of amount.

Their authority.

SECTION VII.

The Royal Courts of Jersey and Guernsey.

The authority of these Courts depends upon charters and letters patent, orders in Council, local ordinances, and Acts of the Imperial Parliament.5 The Royal Court of Jersey seems to have jurisdiction by immemorial usage for six miles beyond low water mark. The jurisdiction of the Royal Court of Jersey also extends over certain small islands, dependencies of Jersey (the whole being called "the bailiewick of Jersey "), and that of the Royal Court

1 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 460; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120, Sched.; 18 & 19 Vict. c. 48, s. 10.

2 17 & 18 Vict. c. 120, Sched.; Maude and Pollock, Merch. Ship., p. 510 (Wreck); 16 & 17 Vict. c. 129; 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 370 (Pilotage).

3 The full title of the judge of this Court, as stated in p. 120, is "The Judge Official and Commissary of the Court of Admiralty of the Cinque Ports," 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 76, s. 15.

The Maria Luisa, Swa. 67; 2 Jur. N. S. 264. This concurrent jurisdiction is not affected by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 63): The Jeune Paul, L. R. 4 Ad. 336; 16 L. T. N. S. 125; see The Antilope, L. R. 4 Ad. 33; 27 L. T. N. S. 663.

5 See "Remarques sur l'Approbation des Lois de Guerneze,” by Le Marchant, vol. ii., pp. 227, 316; Le Quesne's "Constitutional History of Jersey;" Report of the Royal Commission on the Laws of Jersey (1861), Pritch. Adm. Dig. 307; Montesquieu, "Esprit des Lois,' Book xxviii. s. 42; Re the Bailiffs and Jurats of the Royal Court of Guernsey, 5 Moo. P. C. 49; Re the Jersey Jurats, L. R. 1 P. C. 94 ; 3 Moo. P. C. N. S. 456; also Le Birton v. Ennis, 4 Moo. P. C. 323.

of Guernsey over Alderney, Sark, and two other islands ("the bailiewick of Guernsey ").1

The practice in the Royal Court of Jersey is said to Practice. differ widely from that of Guernsey.2 The practice in both depends, in the first instance, upon the Great Customary of Normandy. It is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a correct view of the law and procedure of these Courts, owing to the want of reports and law books of authority in the island3 and of Admiralty cases on appeal to the Privy Council. It seems, however, that the Royal Courts sit as a "Cour en Amirauté," with general commercial rather than Admiralty jurisdiction, and as an appellate Court from the "nombre inférieur."5

4

Merchant

These Courts must, upon application, aid and assist the JurisdicHigh Court of Admiralty to enforce bonds given in the tion under Vice-Admiralty Courts in case of salvage by a Queen's Shipping ship.

Act, 1854.

SECTION VIII.

The Admiralty Court of the Isle of Man.

This Court, which is presided over by the water bailiff of Its juristhe island, possesses a jurisdiction depending partly upon diction.

1

Report of Royal Commission, No. 1604-1615.

"The Channel Islands," by Amsted and Latham, ch. xxiii.

3 The only case which bears upon the Admiralty jurisdiction of the Courts is The Nora Creina, July, 1862 (Royal Court of Jersey), Pritch. Adm. Dig. 308, from which it appears that when a ship is arrested in an Admiralty suit in the Royal Court the ship is detained until the suit is concluded, and that it is not the practice to release the ship on bail, and the Court will not do so without the consent of all parties. See Report of Royal Commission, p. iii., for the want of reports.

4 Amsted and Latham, ch. xxiii.

5 Report of Royal Commission, p. liii. 6 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, ss. 486–494. For the existence of the Admiralty jurisdiction of these Courts, see further Report of Royal Commission, No. 1000, 1033, 1950 (for Jersey); Le Marchant's "Remarques," &c., vol. ii., p. 277; "Nous n'avons point de Court d'Amirauté, autre que la Cour Royale" (for Guernsey).

By custom. immemorial custom, partly upon statute. The jurisdiction is both in personam and in rem, and is almost identical with that of the High Court in England. It is most frequently employed to settle accounts between the owners, masters, and seamen engaged in the herring fishery, and sometimes to award salvage, and to punish offences committed upon the herring fleet.

By statute.

Practice

By the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, the Court is to aid in enforcing bonds given in a Vice-Admiralty Court in the case of salvage services rendered by a Queen's ship.1

The proceedings are usually of a summary nature. There are no written pleadings. The plaintiff serves the defendant with a short statement of his claim, with a writ from the water bailiff, under which the defendant is bound to attend. Proceedings may also be instituted by petition. The defence of the defendant is in either case usually stated orally in Court. In certain cases trial by a jury of seafaring men is allowed; but the jury trial, though still allowed, is practically extinct in this Court.2

In what places

they are

SECTION IX.

The Vice-Admiralty Courts.

The Vice-Admiralty Courts have Admiralty jurisdiction in the British Colonies and possessions.3 In one instance,

1 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, ss. 484-93. The same power is exercisable by the Royal Courts of the Channel Islands.

2 These facts were kindly furnished by Sir James Gell, AttorneyGeneral of the Isle of Man.

3 A list of these Courts is found in the Schedule to 26 & 27 Vict. c. 24. The Straits Settlements have been added by 30 & 31 Vict. c. 45, s. 17. For the mode of constituting them, see Pritch. Adm. Dig. 1063.

For the Admiralty and Vice-Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court of Bengal, see Broughton's Civil Procedure Code (4th ed.), pp. 377, 397, 719, and the cases there cited, for Madras, p. 358, for Bombay, p. 360.

3

recent

lished.

of Record.

The Their

powers

the before

the recent

legislation.

that of the Supreme and Provincial Consular Courts of the estab Ottoman Empire, Vice-Admiralty jurisdiction is exercised by Courts beyond the limits of British territory. They Not Courts are not Courts of Record. Their powers before legislation depended on charters from the Crown. practice and jurisdiction differed considerably in different Courts, according to the powers given in charters. The authority of the Vice-Admiralty Courts was looked upon jealously by the Common Law Courts of England, and was not recognised where a decree had been made illegal by the English law, as, where it confirmed a sale of ship or cargo by the captain where the case was not one of necessity, even though for the benefit of all concerned. The powers of these Courts are now strictly Their defined by statute.

statutory powers.

Merchant

In case of salvage services being rendered by a Queen's Under the ship abroad, the property alleged to be salved is, if the Shipping salvor is justified in detaining it, to be taken into a port Act, 1854. where there is a consular officer or Vice-Admiralty Court. On the master's executing a bond in the form prescribed,5 and, if the owners be foreigners, procuring proper security as well, the property is to be released, and the bond transmitted to the High Court for that Court to adjudicate upon. If the salvor and master agree that a Admiralty Court shall adjudicate, such Court has jurisdiction. In the latter case, the Vice-Admiralty Court. has all the powers of the High Court. Unless the salvor proceeds under this Act, he has no power to detain the property. If the salvor agrees to abandon his lien, upon

Vice

1 Under 6 & 7 Vict. c. 94, s. 1, and the Order in Council of Jan. 9, 1863.

2 Smith v. Nichols, 7 Scott. 147; 5 Bing. N. C. 208; 7 Dowl. 282, per Tindal, C. J.

3 See The Elizabeth, 1 Hagg. 226.

4 Reid v. Darby, 10 East, 143; Hunter v. Prinsep, 10 East, 378; Hunter v. Parker, 7 M. & W. 322; The Segredo, 1 Spks. 57.

5 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, Sched., Table W.

6 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, ss. 486-494.

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