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.
Judge advocate of the Fleet.
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 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 sec. 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 L. 500 per annum.
The existence of a deputy judge of the fleet appointed by
the admiralty has been recognized by the king's regulations,
but no such officer had been appointed up to 1908.
In accordance with the provisions of sec. 61 of the Naval Discipline
Act 1866, in the absence of the judge advocate of the fleet and
his deputy, an officiating judge advocate is appointed for each
court-martial. His duties are described in detail by the king's
regulations, but may be summed up as consisting of seeing that
the charges are in order, pointing out any informalities or
defects in the charges or in the constitution of the court,
seeing that any witness required by prosecutor or prisoner is
summoned, keeping the minutes of the proceedings, advising
on matters of law which arise at any time after the warrant
for the court-martial is issued, drawing up the findings and
sentence, and forwarding the minutes when completed to the
admiralty. The officiating judge advocate is usually the
secretary of the flag-officer convening the court-martial or
some other officer of the accountancy branch. He is remunerated
for his services by a fixed fee for each day the court sits.
Ireland. --The High Court of Admiralty of Ireland, being
formed on the same pattern as the High Court in England, sat in
the Four Courts, Dublin, having a judge, a registrar, a marshal
and a king's or queen's advocate. In peace time and war time
alike it exercised only an instance jurisdiction, though in
1793 it claimed to exercise prize jurisdiction (see ADMIRALTY
JURISDICTION.) No prize commission ever issued to it. By the
Irish Judicature Act of 1877 it was directed that it should
be amalgamated with the Irish High Court of Justice upon the
next vacancy in the office of judge, and this subsequently took
place. There was no separate lord high admiral for Ireland.
Scotland.--At the Union, while the national functions of
the lord high admiral were merged in the English office it was
provided by the Act of Union that the Court of Admiralty in
Scotland should be continued ``for determination of all maritime
cases relating to private rights in Scotland competent to the
jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court.'' This court continued till
1831, when its civil jurisdiction was given to the Court of
Session and the Sheriffs' Courts (see ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION),
See Sir Travers Twiss, Black Book of the Admiralty,
Rolls series; R. G. Marsden, Select Pleas in the Court of
Admiralty, published by the Selden Society; Godolphin,
View of the Admiral Jurisdiction. (W. G. F. P.)
1 The Board of Ordnance was originally instituted for the
navy, but eventually fell into military hands, to the detriment
of the navy --the only navy of any nation that has not full
authority over its own ordnance. In 1653, according to
Oppenheim, it was, owing to its inefficiency, placed under the
admiralty. In 1632 it appears to have been independent,
but ``still retained that evil pre-eminence in sloth and
incapacity it had already earned and has never since lost.''
2 Admiral Sir Cooper Key, when director of naval ordnance
during Mr Childers' administration, observed to the writer
that no first lord of the admiralty knew so little of
the working of the admiralty as Mr Childers, because,
owing to the discontinuance of board meetings, he lost
the great advantage of hearing the discussion. (R. V. H.)
3 The drawback is, that a naval lord can only go on leave by
throwing all his work on a colleague already overweighted with work.
ADMIRALTY ISLANDS, a group of about forty islands lying north
of New Guinea, between 1 deg. and 3 deg. S., and 146 deg. and 148 deg.
E., within the Bismarck Archipelago, belonging to Germany.
The largest, Manus, is about 60 m. in length, and its highest
point is about 3000 ft. above the sea; the others are very
small, and rise little above sea-level. Most are of coral
formation, but the hills of Manus are believed to be extinct
volcanoes. The islands were discovered by the Dutch in 1616,
and visited in 1767 by Philip Carteret; but no landing seems
to have been effected, owing to the surrounding reefs, until
the arrival of the ``Challenger'' in 1875. The natives are
of the Papuan type, but show signs of mixed origin. They
are cannibals, and many murders of whites have taken place.
ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION. The courts by which, as far as we
know, admiralty jurisdiction in civil matters was first
exercised were the following. In and throughout England the
courts of the several admirals soon combined into one High
Court of Admiralty (see ADMIRALTY, HIGH COURT OF.) Within
the territories of the Cinque Ports the Court of Admiralty
of the Cinque Ports exercised a co-ordinate jurisdiction.
In certain towns and places there were local courts of
vice-admiralty. In Scotland there existed the Scottish
High Court of Admiralty, in Ireland the Irish High Court of
Admiralty. Of these courts that of the Cinque Ports alone
remains untouched. The Scottish court was abolished, and
its civil jurisdiction given to the Court of Session and
to the courts of the sheriffs by the Court of Session Act
1830--not, however, till a decision given by it and the appeal
therefrom to the House of Lords had established a remarkable
rule of admiralty law in cases of collision (Hay v. le
Neve, 1824, 2 Shaw, Sc. App. Cas. 395). The act states
that the Court of Justiciary held cumulative jurisdiction
with the Court of Admiralty in criminal matters. The local
vice-admiralty courts in England had ceased to do much work
when they were abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act
1835; the High Court became, with the other superior courts,
a component part of the High Court of Justice by virtue of
the Judicature Acts 1873 and 1875. And the Irish court has
in like manner become a part of the High Court of Justice
in Ireland by virtue of the Judicature Act passed in 1877.
Vice-Admiralty Courts.
As England first, and Great Britain afterwards, acquired
colonies and possessions beyond seas, vice-admiralty courts
were established. The earliest known was that in Jamaica,
established in the year 1662. Some vice- admiralty courts
which were created for prize purposes in the last century were
suffered to expire after 1815. In the year 1863, when the
act regulating the vice-admiralty courts was passed, there
were vice-admiralty courts at Antigua, Bahamas, Barbadoes,
Bermuda, British Columbia, British Guiana, British Honduras,
Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Dominica, Falkland Islands,
Gambia River, Gibraltar, Gold Coast, Grenada, Hong Kong,
Jamaica, Labuan, Lagos, Lower Canada (otherwise Quebec),
Malta, Mauritius, Montserrat, Natal, Nevis, New Brunswick,
Newfoundland, New South Wales, New Zealand, Nova Scotia
(otherwise Halifax), Prince Edward Island, Queensland, St
Christopher, St Helena, St Lucia, St Vincent, Sierra Leone,
South Australia, Tasmania, Tobago, Trinidad, Vancouver's
Island, Victoria, Virgin Islands (otherwise Tortola), and
Western Australia, and (for matters of the slave trade only)
Aden. By the act of 1867 one for the Straits Settlements was
added. These courts have been regulated from time to time
by the following statutes: 2 and 3 Will. IV. c. 51, 26 and
27 Vict. c. 24 (Vice-Admiralty Courts Act 1863), already
cited, and 30 and 31 Vict. c. 45 (Vice-Admiralty Courts
Act Amendment Act 1867); and by the slave trade acts, of
which the last and consolidating act was that of 1873.
In 1890 the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act provided that,
except in the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, St
Helena and British Honduras, vice-admiralty courts should be
abolished, and a substitution made of colonial courts of
admiralty. There is power, however, reserved to the crown
to erect through the admiralty in any British possession any
vice-admiralty court, except in India or any British possession
having a representative legislature. No vice-admiralty
court so established can exercise any jurisdiction except
for some purpose relating to prize, the royal navy, the slave
trade, foreign enlistment, Pacific Islanders' protection, and
questions relating to treaties or conventions on international
law. Vice-admiralty courts exercised all usual admiralty
jurisdiction, and in addition a certain revenue jurisdiction,
and jurisdiction over matters of slave trade and prize and
under the Pacific Islanders' Protection Act. The appeal from
vice-admiralty courts used to lie to the High Court of Admiralty
of England, but has been transferred to the king in council.
Colonial Courts of Admiralty.
By the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890, already
referred to, every court of law in a British possession
which is declared by its legislature to be such, or if
there be no such declaration, which has original unlimited
civil jurisdiction, shall be a court of admiralty.
India.
There used at one time to be vice-admiralty courts for Calcutta,
Madras and Bombay; but by the India High Courts Act 1861, sec. 9, the
admiralty jurisdiction is given to the High Courts of these places.
Consular Courts.
Consular courts established in Turkey, China and Japan have
had admiralty jurisdiction given to them, and by sec. 12 of
the Colonial Admiralty Courts Act any court established by
H.M. for the exercise of jurisdiction in any place outside
H.M.'s dominion may have admiralty jurisdiction granted to it.
Australia.
By the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900
a federal supreme court, to be called the High Court of
Australia, is created, and the parliament of the Commonwealth
