The Development Of Admiralty Jurisdiction And Practice Since 1800 An English Study With American Comparisons

Dr Wiswall examines the development of jurisdiction and practice in the field of Admiralty Law in England, with American comparisons, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the work is largely organized around the Court of Admiralty from 1798 onwards. The judgeships of Lord Stowell, Dr Lushington, Sir Robert Phillimore and Sir Francis Jeune, in England, are considered in some detail, and also those of Mr Justice Story, Judge Ashur Ware and Judge Addison Brown in the United States. One chapter is devoted to an examination of the dissolution of Doctors' Commons (the unique body of English civil lawyers). Development through case law, statutes and rules is the technical side of this study - an exposition not so much of the development of legal principles themselves as of their application. 'The last chapter turns to a study of the evolution of the substantive law regarding personal liability in Admiralty actions in rem, illustrating the divergence between the English and American law, and the effect upon and repercussions in international maritime law.

Benedict, Erastus C. The American Admiralty: Its Jurisdiction and Practice with Practical Forms and Directions. New York: Banks, Gould & Co., 1850. xiii, 651 pp. Reprinted 2010 by the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 9781616190194. Paperback. New. $35. * Reprint of the first edition. At the time of its publication there were other popular treatises on the subject in use by American lawyers, but the particularly American viewpoint and practicality of Benedict's treatise enabled it to surpass the others. Now in its seventh edition, it is still the premier work on the subject. In addition to covering American maritime law and practice in the courts, Benedict includes comprehensive discussions of trial by jury, the ancient jurisdiction of the English admiralty, the strife between the Common Law Courts and the Admiralty in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English admiralty at the time of the American Revolution; and the admiralty jurisdiction of the state courts of admiralty, the British colonies, Scotland and Ireland, France and other portions of Continental Europe. An appendix contains rules for the United States Supreme Court, the United States District and Circuit Courts and fee schedules, statutes and forms. Benedict [1800-1880], a noted lawyer and educator, was considered "one of the foremost admiralty lawyers of his day." Dictionary of American Biography I: 177.

The English/British have always been known as the sailor race with hearts of oak: the Royal Navy as the Senior Service and First Line of Defense. It facilitated the motto: The sun never set on the British Empire. The Royal Navy has exerted a powerful influence on Great Britain, its Empire, Europe, and, ultimately, the world. This superior annotated bibliography supplies entries that explore the influence of the English/British Navy through its history. This survey will provide a major reference guide for students and scholars at all levels. It incorporates evaluative, qualitative, and critical analysis processes, the essence of historical scholarship. Each one of the 4,124 annotated entries is evaluated, assessed, analyzed, integrated, and incorporated into the historiographical scholarship.

Courts of Admiralty and the Common Law examines the origins of American admiralty jurisdiction. Drawing from a vast array of primary sources, ranging from Roman law to English records of the medieval and early modern periods, the author traces the development of English admiralty practice that provided the legal heritage of the new American nation. The book provides details of how the English High Court of Admiralty and its civil-law practitioners became embroiled in the struggle between Crown and Parliament in the seventeenth century, losing much of their traditional jurisdiction to the courts of common law at a time when the American colonies were just beginning to establish specialized tribunals for hearing maritime cases. With maritime jurisdiction in flux in the mother country, the Americans were free to adopt ad hoc solutions to the problem of jurisdiction, creating a system in which both the colonial common-law courts and the newly established colonial vice admiralty courts had concurrent power to adjudicate a wide range of maritime claims. Courts of Admiralty and the Common Law also sheds fresh light on the origins of the federal judiciary, showing how the debate over maritime jurisdiction was instrumental both in shaping the language of Article III of the Constitution and later in determining the structure of the federal courts in the Judiciary Act of 1789. Building upon an assortment of materials from the Constitutional Convention, the states' ratifying conventions, and other contemporary sources, the author explores the pivotal role that the debate over maritime jurisdiction played in determining the structure of the federal courts and explains the reasons underlying the first Congress' decision to grant concurrent jurisdiction over some maritime cases to the states' courts of common law. When the first Congress incorporated concurrent state/federal jurisdiction over several classes of maritime claims into the Judiciary Act of 1789, the author argues, it had not created a novel jurisdictional system, but merely had preserved the status quo established long ago in the colonial era. Congress had disregarded the dangers usually associated with two separate sets of courts interpreting the same body of substantive law, assuming that the lex maritima, as part of the law of nations, would be applied uniformly in both state and federal courts. Soon, however, both new technology, such as the introduction of steam power in maritime commerce, and changing views regarding the law of nations would challenge that assumption. As the original reasons for granting concurrent jurisdiction unraveled, American judges in the early nineteenth century sought to make overlapping jurisdiction work in a changing world. Courts of Admiralty and the Common Law concludes with an assessment of whether concurrent state/federal maritime jurisdiction continues to serve a practical purpose in the twenty-first century, examining how tensions between conflicting state and federal substantive rules may serve the greater interests of federalism and commerce. "Through his thorough account of the shipping industry's rise and fall and of the challenges admiralty jurisdiction posed to ideas about federalism, Professor Snell shows how commerce influenced the development of our unique governmental structure." -- Harvard Law Review "For those with an interest in the development in American courts of a distinct jurisdiction in cases sufficiently related to waterborne transport, this book should fit neatly between that of Prichard and Yale on the one hand and Robertson on the other. It is more comprehensive in research and perspective, synthetic in process, and thematic in design than the former. It offers more evidence than the latter and it addresses controversies that have ripened since 1970." -- Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce