Talk:Admiralty court

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As far as I can see all of the content of this article, as it refers to the UK, is wrong. There aren't a collection of admiralty courts or maritime courts, only the High Court which has admiralty jurisdiction and has for ages. A trawl through Halsbury's Laws of England suggests that the law is not "based on" civil law either.

I am happy to rewrite the article from scratch, but would that not upset people?

I agree that it is wrong, and I would also add that the article is unbalanced by having the historical discussion of American political history without the proper context. But there were a number of admiralty courts, all along the coast, and even now the Cinque Ports court survives.

Agreed also. I'm not terribly au fait with the subject - but sufficiently to see that the introduction gives the false impression that there are still many specific courts (ie courtrooms) dealing with maritime cases. The Cinque Ports Court of Admiralty is worth mentioning, but a quick skim of Google suggests its existence is purely ritual nowadays [1]. Tearlach 02:45, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

The Cinque Ports Court does survive and is in reality purely ritual; in the coffee-table book "Guardians of the Realm" (or is it "Keepers of the Kingdom"?) there is a ludicrous photograph of the present incumbent (also the Master of the Rolls) standing in a gale on the cliffs of Dover wielding the ceremonial Admiralty paddle, as if to bat back the invader. There was a submission to its jurisdiction in the late 1980's or early 1990's when Gerald Darling was the judge. He had served as a naval pilot and the case was referred to him as it concerned an alleged attempt to down a helicopter with a water cannon as it tried to land on a ship. Sadly, the case settled before trial.

It is also fair to say that there was undoubtedly a strong civilian element to the Admiralty Court until the nineteenth century; one of its most famous judges was Dr. Lushington, who must have been a doctor of Roman law as the universities did not then teach the common law. There are cases in the modern era which make reference back to civilian times; see, e.g., Sir Robert Philimore's judgment in 'The City of Mecca' (1879) 5 PD 28 at p. 31. The difference in character between the civilian Admiralty Court and the common law courts was no doubt one reason behind the 200-year jurisdictional conflict between them that was not resolved until the Admiralty Court Acts of 1840 and 1861. Its civilian character lingers on in the in rem mode of process and the maritime lien.