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Vice admiralty court

August 20, 2023

Vice Admiralty Courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen.

American Colonies

American maritime activity had been primarily self-regulated in the early to mid-1600s. Smaller maritime issues were settled at court in local jurisdictions, prior to the establishment of courts to specialize in admiralty. In the colony of Massachusetts Bay, for instance, a maritime code to specialize in maritime legislation was created and in 1674 the Court of Assistants was established to determine all cases of admiralty. Typically the courts were presided over by a judge, unless it was deemed more suitable to be presided over by a jury. This was similar in Maryland, where a so-called 'Court of Admiralty' heard cases of maritime issues including sailor's wages, the carriage of goods and piracy.[1] Originally these courts dealt primarily with commercial matters, and the judges which presided over them were appointed by the local population and were paid from the colonial treasuries. Their jurisdiction expanded, however, during the French and Indian War, to the condemnation of enemy ships including disposing of their possessions. It was not until the passage and the later stricter enforcement of the Navigation Acts by the British parliament from the 1650s through to the 1770s that the British government were granted more power over American maritime issues, as vice-admiralty courts began to enforce customs and hear criminal trials for smuggling.

In the 1700s, the British passed a variety of laws aimed at combating illegal smuggling in the American colonies. Americans had developed trade relationships with places such as southern Europe, the Netherlands and the West Indies, despite the fact that the Navigation Acts intended to give Great Britain a trade monopoly with its American colonies. The Molasses Act of 1733 had tried to tax molasses and non-British sugar, though it was largely unsuccessful. Shipowners who imported manufactured goods from the Netherlands smuggled these products in absolute secrecy, with Crown officials estimating that the annual value of manufactured goods smuggled equaled £500,000.[2] British admiralty prepared commissions to authorize governors to erect vice-admiralty courts throughout the American colonies. In 1701, William Atwood was dispatched to preside as judge of the Admiralty for New Hampshire and the Jerseys. Due to firm colonial opposition, however, the task was practically impossible so he retired only a few years later. Other vice-admiralty judges in Pennsylvania and southern colonies faced similar difficulties as locally elected authorities strongly opposed the work they were sent to do.

The courts became quickly unpopular. This was not only because of the express prohibition of jury trials or the fact that vice-admiralty judges tended to believe that common law courts did not have superior status. It was also because a whole range of technical issues confused the legal system. It was often not clear whether vice-admiralty courts had jurisdiction over creeks or bays, or whether the governor could create vice-admiralty courts through vice-regal powers, or whether or not there was a clear method of separating the jurisdictions and procedures of vice-admiralty and common law jurisdiction.[3] As a consequence of this, vice-admiralty courts became ineffective and, as many colonists perceived, unjust.

American Revolution

In the early years of the American Revolution, the British parliament increased the power of Vice-Admiralty Courts throughout the colonies to regulate maritime activities and combat smuggling. The 1764 Revenue Act, known also as the Sugar Act, established a so-called 'super' Vice-Admiralty Court in Halifax, Nova Scotia, presided over by a Crown-appointed judge, the first of which was British jurist and the later Governor of Barbados Dr. William Spry. The Court was to have jurisdiction over all of America, with the legislation empowering customs officials to take seizures in ships to either a common law court, ruled over by a jury, or the new vice-admiralty court. However, the court in Nova Scotia lost its utility fairly quickly not only because of its distance from the centers of commerce and trade in the colonies, but because the cold weather made it difficult to travel to. Therefore, in spring 1768, the court in Halifax was abolished and parliament authorized vice-admiralty courts in Boston, Charleston and Philadelphia.[4] These courts held sessions heard without juries, with the burden of proof being on the accused instead of on the officers who seized their property. Much of the time vessels were seized by the Crown on weak evidence. The Courts also generally only tried Americans, with British persons accused of violating trade legislation being heard by juries in common law courts.

The Vice-Admiralty Courts were met with extensive protest from the colonies, and it became an important factor in motivating colonists to sever the political ties with their mother country. Many felt as though their right to be tried by their peers, a right which was seen as being part of the privilege of being an English subject, was being denied to them. From 1764 to 1768, it was often complained that it was unjust for a merchant, whose ship may be seized in Georgia, to travel 1,500 miles from Georgia to the court in Halifax to defend his property.[5] Further criticisms was that the owner of the ship or maritime goods seized had to post a large bond before allowing to defend himself. Additionally, even if his trial ended in acquittal, he would still be required to pay costs.[6]

It was argued by American colonists that Vice-Admiralty judges were corrupt and often abused their power. In the proceedings of the Continental Congress held in Philadelphia on 5 September 1774, a complaint was drafted to King George III that the "judges of admiralty and vice-admiralty courts are empowered to receive their salaries and fees from the effects condemned by themselves" with officers of the customs being empowered to "break open and enter houses without the authority of any civil magistrate".[7] James Otis had further complained of the lack of justice in having juryless trials and the burden of proof on the accused. The complaint made in the Continental Congress is probably alluding to the payments made to the judge of the vice-admiralty court in Halifax, where they actually received their payment not through a Crown salary but through compensation through fees charged for condemning a ship, and through the sharing of the profits of the condemnation of that ship.[8] This was not the case in the Vice-Admiralty Courts established in Boston, Charleston and Philadelphia, where judges were paid only through salaries.[9] In fact, the British government replied to the Congress' complaints in their Address of the People of Great Britain to the Inhabitants of America, where they mentioned that "four great Vice-Admiralty Courts were ... erected in different stations in America" and that "large salaries were settled upon the Judges, to make them independent. These salaries were paid not from the fines and forfeitures, but in the common way".[10]

When the American Revolutionary War began, and the British court system effectively collapsed in America, the Continental Congress debated whether or not Admiralty jurisdiction should be returned to the regular court system or if each state should form its own admiralty court. State admiralty courts were established from 1776 onward in all the states, the first of which being in Connecticut, Boston, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia. However, only a handful of these courts actually allowed for jury trials and appeals to Congress. Eventually, the American Constitution formed in 1789 vested Admiralty jurisdiction in federal district courts.[11]

Australia

Main article: Vice Admiralty Court (New South Wales)

The first Vice-Admiralty Court established in Australia was in the colony of New South Wales in 1788. The first Vice-Admiral was Arthur Phillip and the first judge was Robert Ross. The court was abolished in 1911, when the Supreme Court of New South Wales was granted the Admiralty jurisdiction of the court.

Canada

A Vice Admiralty Court was formed in Nova Scotia to try smugglers and to enforce the Sugar Act of 1764 throughout British North America. From 1763–1765, when American smugglers were caught, they were tried by corrupt judges who received a percentage of the confiscated goods, if the defendants were found guilty; therefore, defendants were less than likely to be found innocent. References required for the assertion of corrupt judges.

Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone Court of Vice Admiralty was founded by George Canning the British Foreign Secretary on 2 May 1807. Its role was to enforce the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 and the later Slave Trade Felony Act 1811. It provided the legal basis according to which the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron could operate. The letters patent indicated that the courts role was the confiscation of ships involved in the slave trade, the liberation of the enslaved Africans and the confiscation of any other goods found on board.[12]: 1131  The Court functioned until 1817 when it was replaced by a Mixed Commission Court.[12]: 1125 

The first judge was Alexander Smith, a former shopkeeper, but he was replaced in 1808 by Robert Thorpe, a barrister with previous experience in Canada.[12]: 1133  Upon taking up his post, Thorpe complained about his predecessor's way of running the court to Lord Liverpool, and asked for clarification as regards the remit of the court. In April 1812, he tried Samuel Samo in the first court case brought under the Slave Trade Felony Act 1811.[13]

Notes

  1. ^ Mangone, G, 1997, US Admiralty Law, p.24-25
  2. ^ Risjord, Norman K. (2002). Jefferson's America, 1760–1815. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002. p. 78. ISBN 0-7425-2173-7.
  3. ^ Rabushka, A, 2008, Taxation, pp.315-317
  4. ^ Jensen, Merrill (2004). The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763-1776. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1968. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-87220-705-9.
  5. ^ Washburne, George Adrian (2006). Imperial Control of the Administration of Justice in the Thirteen American Colonies, 1684-1776. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 1923. pp. 176–177. ISBN 1-58477-621-8.
  6. ^ Reid, John Phillip (1995). Constitutional History of the American Revolution: The Authority of Rights. The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995. p. 179. ISBN 978-0299146641.
  7. ^ Journal of the Proceedings of Congress Held at Philadelphia, September 5th, 1774: Containing, the Bill of Rights, a List of Grievances, Occasional Resolves, the Association, an Address to the People of Great Britain, a Memorial to the Inhabitants of the British American Colonies, And, an Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec ... To which is Added, ... an Authentic Copy of the Petition to the King. p. 58. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Mangone, G, 1997, US Admiralty Law, p.26
  9. ^ Rabushka, A, 2008, p.739
  10. ^ Dalrymple, Sir John at the request of Lord North. Address of the People of Great Britain to the Inhabitants of America. American Archives: Fourth Series, containing a Documentary History of the English Colonies in North America, from The King's Message to Parliament, of March 7, 1774, to the Declaration of Independence by the United States (Vol. 1), M. St Clair Clarke and Peter Force, 1833. p. 1424.
  11. ^ Dennis Szucs, Loretto; Hargreaves Luebking, Sandra (2006). The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy. Ancestry, 2006. pp. 296. ISBN 1593312776.
  12. ^ a b c Helfman, Tara (2006). "The Court of Vice Admiralty at Sierra Leone and the Abolition of the West African Slave Trade". Yale Law Journal. 115 (5): 1122–1156. doi:10.2307/20455647. JSTOR 20455647. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  13. ^ Haslam, Emily (2012). "Redemption, Colonialism and International Criminal Law". In Kirkby, Diane (ed.). Past law, present histories. Canberra, Acton, A.C.T.: ANU E Press. ISBN 9781922144034.

References

External links

    August 20, 2023
    vice, admiralty, court, vice, admiralty, courts, were, juryless, courts, located, british, colonies, that, were, granted, jurisdiction, over, local, legal, matters, related, maritime, activities, such, disputes, between, merchants, seamen, contents, american, . Vice Admiralty Courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities such as disputes between merchants and seamen Contents 1 American Colonies 1 1 American Revolution 2 Australia 3 Canada 4 Sierra Leone 5 Notes 6 References 7 External linksAmerican Colonies EditAmerican maritime activity had been primarily self regulated in the early to mid 1600s Smaller maritime issues were settled at court in local jurisdictions prior to the establishment of courts to specialize in admiralty In the colony of Massachusetts Bay for instance a maritime code to specialize in maritime legislation was created and in 1674 the Court of Assistants was established to determine all cases of admiralty Typically the courts were presided over by a judge unless it was deemed more suitable to be presided over by a jury This was similar in Maryland where a so called Court of Admiralty heard cases of maritime issues including sailor s wages the carriage of goods and piracy 1 Originally these courts dealt primarily with commercial matters and the judges which presided over them were appointed by the local population and were paid from the colonial treasuries Their jurisdiction expanded however during the French and Indian War to the condemnation of enemy ships including disposing of their possessions It was not until the passage and the later stricter enforcement of the Navigation Acts by the British parliament from the 1650s through to the 1770s that the British government were granted more power over American maritime issues as vice admiralty courts began to enforce customs and hear criminal trials for smuggling In the 1700s the British passed a variety of laws aimed at combating illegal smuggling in the American colonies Americans had developed trade relationships with places such as southern Europe the Netherlands and the West Indies despite the fact that the Navigation Acts intended to give Great Britain a trade monopoly with its American colonies The Molasses Act of 1733 had tried to tax molasses and non British sugar though it was largely unsuccessful Shipowners who imported manufactured goods from the Netherlands smuggled these products in absolute secrecy with Crown officials estimating that the annual value of manufactured goods smuggled equaled 500 000 2 British admiralty prepared commissions to authorize governors to erect vice admiralty courts throughout the American colonies In 1701 William Atwood was dispatched to preside as judge of the Admiralty for New Hampshire and the Jerseys Due to firm colonial opposition however the task was practically impossible so he retired only a few years later Other vice admiralty judges in Pennsylvania and southern colonies faced similar difficulties as locally elected authorities strongly opposed the work they were sent to do The courts became quickly unpopular This was not only because of the express prohibition of jury trials or the fact that vice admiralty judges tended to believe that common law courts did not have superior status It was also because a whole range of technical issues confused the legal system It was often not clear whether vice admiralty courts had jurisdiction over creeks or bays or whether the governor could create vice admiralty courts through vice regal powers or whether or not there was a clear method of separating the jurisdictions and procedures of vice admiralty and common law jurisdiction 3 As a consequence of this vice admiralty courts became ineffective and as many colonists perceived unjust American Revolution Edit In the early years of the American Revolution the British parliament increased the power of Vice Admiralty Courts throughout the colonies to regulate maritime activities and combat smuggling The 1764 Revenue Act known also as the Sugar Act established a so called super Vice Admiralty Court in Halifax Nova Scotia presided over by a Crown appointed judge the first of which was British jurist and the later Governor of Barbados Dr William Spry The Court was to have jurisdiction over all of America with the legislation empowering customs officials to take seizures in ships to either a common law court ruled over by a jury or the new vice admiralty court However the court in Nova Scotia lost its utility fairly quickly not only because of its distance from the centers of commerce and trade in the colonies but because the cold weather made it difficult to travel to Therefore in spring 1768 the court in Halifax was abolished and parliament authorized vice admiralty courts in Boston Charleston and Philadelphia 4 These courts held sessions heard without juries with the burden of proof being on the accused instead of on the officers who seized their property Much of the time vessels were seized by the Crown on weak evidence The Courts also generally only tried Americans with British persons accused of violating trade legislation being heard by juries in common law courts The Vice Admiralty Courts were met with extensive protest from the colonies and it became an important factor in motivating colonists to sever the political ties with their mother country Many felt as though their right to be tried by their peers a right which was seen as being part of the privilege of being an English subject was being denied to them From 1764 to 1768 it was often complained that it was unjust for a merchant whose ship may be seized in Georgia to travel 1 500 miles from Georgia to the court in Halifax to defend his property 5 Further criticisms was that the owner of the ship or maritime goods seized had to post a large bond before allowing to defend himself Additionally even if his trial ended in acquittal he would still be required to pay costs 6 It was argued by American colonists that Vice Admiralty judges were corrupt and often abused their power In the proceedings of the Continental Congress held in Philadelphia on 5 September 1774 a complaint was drafted to King George III that the judges of admiralty and vice admiralty courts are empowered to receive their salaries and fees from the effects condemned by themselves with officers of the customs being empowered to break open and enter houses without the authority of any civil magistrate 7 James Otis had further complained of the lack of justice in having juryless trials and the burden of proof on the accused The complaint made in the Continental Congress is probably alluding to the payments made to the judge of the vice admiralty court in Halifax where they actually received their payment not through a Crown salary but through compensation through fees charged for condemning a ship and through the sharing of the profits of the condemnation of that ship 8 This was not the case in the Vice Admiralty Courts established in Boston Charleston and Philadelphia where judges were paid only through salaries 9 In fact the British government replied to the Congress complaints in their Address of the People of Great Britain to the Inhabitants of America where they mentioned that four great Vice Admiralty Courts were erected in different stations in America and that large salaries were settled upon the Judges to make them independent These salaries were paid not from the fines and forfeitures but in the common way 10 When the American Revolutionary War began and the British court system effectively collapsed in America the Continental Congress debated whether or not Admiralty jurisdiction should be returned to the regular court system or if each state should form its own admiralty court State admiralty courts were established from 1776 onward in all the states the first of which being in Connecticut Boston New Hampshire Rhode Island South Carolina and Virginia However only a handful of these courts actually allowed for jury trials and appeals to Congress Eventually the American Constitution formed in 1789 vested Admiralty jurisdiction in federal district courts 11 Australia EditMain article Vice Admiralty Court New South Wales This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed May 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message The first Vice Admiralty Court established in Australia was in the colony of New South Wales in 1788 The first Vice Admiral was Arthur Phillip and the first judge was Robert Ross The court was abolished in 1911 when the Supreme Court of New South Wales was granted the Admiralty jurisdiction of the court Canada EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed May 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message A Vice Admiralty Court was formed in Nova Scotia to try smugglers and to enforce the Sugar Act of 1764 throughout British North America From 1763 1765 when American smugglers were caught they were tried by corrupt judges who received a percentage of the confiscated goods if the defendants were found guilty therefore defendants were less than likely to be found innocent References required for the assertion of corrupt judges Sierra Leone EditThe Sierra Leone Court of Vice Admiralty was founded by George Canning the British Foreign Secretary on 2 May 1807 Its role was to enforce the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 and the later Slave Trade Felony Act 1811 It provided the legal basis according to which the Royal Navy s West Africa Squadron could operate The letters patent indicated that the courts role was the confiscation of ships involved in the slave trade the liberation of the enslaved Africans and the confiscation of any other goods found on board 12 1131 The Court functioned until 1817 when it was replaced by a Mixed Commission Court 12 1125 The first judge was Alexander Smith a former shopkeeper but he was replaced in 1808 by Robert Thorpe a barrister with previous experience in Canada 12 1133 Upon taking up his post Thorpe complained about his predecessor s way of running the court to Lord Liverpool and asked for clarification as regards the remit of the court In April 1812 he tried Samuel Samo in the first court case brought under the Slave Trade Felony Act 1811 13 Notes Edit Mangone G 1997 US Admiralty Law p 24 25 Risjord Norman K 2002 Jefferson s America 1760 1815 Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc 2002 p 78 ISBN 0 7425 2173 7 Rabushka A 2008 Taxation pp 315 317 Jensen Merrill 2004 The Founding of a Nation A History of the American Revolution 1763 1776 Hackett Publishing Company Inc 1968 p 228 ISBN 978 0 87220 705 9 Washburne George Adrian 2006 Imperial Control of the Administration of Justice in the Thirteen American Colonies 1684 1776 The Lawbook Exchange Ltd 1923 pp 176 177 ISBN 1 58477 621 8 Reid John Phillip 1995 Constitutional History of the American Revolution The Authority of Rights The University of Wisconsin Press 1995 p 179 ISBN 978 0299146641 Journal of the Proceedings of Congress Held at Philadelphia September 5th 1774 Containing the Bill of Rights a List of Grievances Occasional Resolves the Association an Address to the People of Great Britain a Memorial to the Inhabitants of the British American Colonies And an Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec To which is Added an Authentic Copy of the Petition to the King p 58 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help Mangone G 1997 US Admiralty Law p 26 Rabushka A 2008 p 739 Dalrymple Sir John at the request of Lord North Address of the People of Great Britain to the Inhabitants of America American Archives Fourth Series containing a Documentary History of the English Colonies in North America from The King s Message to Parliament of March 7 1774 to the Declaration of Independence by the United States Vol 1 M St Clair Clarke and Peter Force 1833 p 1424 Dennis Szucs Loretto Hargreaves Luebking Sandra 2006 The Source A Guidebook to American Genealogy Ancestry 2006 pp 296 ISBN 1593312776 a b c Helfman Tara 2006 The Court of Vice Admiralty at Sierra Leone and the Abolition of the West African Slave Trade Yale Law Journal 115 5 1122 1156 doi 10 2307 20455647 JSTOR 20455647 Retrieved 27 February 2016 Haslam Emily 2012 Redemption Colonialism and International Criminal Law In Kirkby Diane ed Past law present histories Canberra Acton A C T ANU E Press ISBN 9781922144034 References EditMangone G 1997 United States Admiralty Law The Hague Kluwer Law International ISBN 90 411 0417 8 Rabushka A 2008 Taxation in Colonial America Princeton NJ Princeton University Press ISBN 9780691168234External links EditVice Admiralty Court in New South Wales Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Vice admiralty court amp oldid 1154834385, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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