The Admiralty Jurisdiction exercised by the Commercial Court

Abstract

The Court of Admiralty was originally, as its name implies, actually the Court of the Lord High Admiral of England but gradually it became, though differing widely in its jurisdiction from the Common Law and Equity Courts, an ordinary municipal tribunal. So far as regards its general civil jurisdiction, it is not easy to say when the Lord High Admiral's Court became actually established in England. It is certain, however, that the Court was well known during the reign of Edward I in the thirteenth century. Beginning with a personal jurisdiction on the part of that important officer himself, it became in time a Maritime Court somewhat analogous to those which in the middle ages existed in many seaports of Europe, and even of England.