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— Part
Part
II.
II.
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Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
Jurisdiction
of
the
Supreme
63
^^^^^
Jurisdiction of Supreme Court.
93. The present jurisdiction of the Probate, Divorce, and Adp^.^^^^^ miralty Division of the High Court of Justice, for brevity called the uWrce' Admiralty Division, is derived partly from statute and partly from Adrairait the inherent and statutory jurisdiction of the High Court of ^^ivision. Admiralty, which, by the Judicature Acts (//), was transferred to the Admiralty Division. Appeals lie from the Admiralty Division to the Court of Appeal, Appeals, and thence to the House of Lords (h). Sect.
94. The jurisdiction
1.
Possessio)2,
the Admiralty Division to entertain Disputes as from the inherent jurisdiction of the possession. Admiralty Court to take ships or vessels out of the hands of wrongdoers and restore them to the true owners (/), to dispossess masters who ought to be removed (j), and to give possession to the majority of the part-owners wishing to send the ship proceeded against to sea, and on what is called an action of restraint being instituted by a dissentient minority of part-owners {k) to compel the majority of the part-owners sending the ship to sea to give bail in the amount of the value of the shares of the plaintiffs (1) for the safe return of the ship to a specified port {m). Bail for safe return maybe given for more than a single voyage, but a bail bond may be cancelled when the ship is safe within the jurisdiction {n). of
to
suits of possession is derived
95. This jurisdiction was limited to disputes as to possession Common Law Courts declared that where any bond fide claim of ownership was set up as a defence, the Admiralty Court had no jurisdiction to deal with the question of title (o). To remedy
alone, for the
36 & 37 Vict. c. 66 38 & 39 Vict. c. 77. Judicature Act, 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 66), s. 18 (5) A^Dpellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 59), s. 3. (?) Re BJanshard (1824), 2 B. & C. 244. See also the powers given by The {j) The New Draper (1802), 4 C. Eob. 287. Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 60), s. 472. As to ownership and control of ships generally, see title Shipping and Navigation. {Ic) The Inmsfalien (1866), L. R. 1 A. & E. 72. [l] If the value is not agreed on between the parties the shares will have to be appraised [The Robert Dickinson (1881), 10 P. D. 15, at p. 18). (m) The 4po//o (1824), 1 Hag. Adm. 306, 312; The 7Wca(1880), 5 P. D. 169; The Keroula (1886), 11 P. D. 92; The Robert Dickinson, supra. After the bail has been given the ship sails entirely for the profit of the majorit}^ of the part-owners who have sent her out, and the minority bear no share of the expenses of the voyage (Abbott, Law of Merchant Ships and Seamen (14th ed.) Parti., Chap. III."). [n) The Vivienne (1887), 12 P. D. 185, in which case the bond had been in force for three years. Where the bail bond had been given in the usual form conditioned for the safe return of the vessel to the port to which she belonged, and it was proved that the ship though not lost had been taken to a port outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Court, the Court held that it had jurisdiction to order the amount of the bail to be brought into Court (The Cawdor, [1900] P. 47). {q)
(h)
(o)
The Warrior (1818), 2 Dods. 289.
Questions of t^^^®-
