Admiralty Act, 1783

ADMIRALTY ACT 1783

CHAPTER XIV.

An Act for regulating the High Court of Admiralty in this Kingdom.

Recital of 11, 12, & 13 Ja. 1. c. 2.

all commissions issued under said act, directed to admiralty judge, & 3 or 4 others nominated by the lord chancellor; any two may determine; and invested with like power, as justices of oyer, &c. for said offences on land.

IV. And whereas by an act passed in this kingdom in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth years of the reign of his late Majesty king James the first, entitled, An Act for punishing of pirates, and robbers on the sea, it is amongst other things enacted, That all treasons, felonies, robberies, murders, and confederacies thereafter to be committed in or upon the sea, or in any river, creek, or place where the admiral or admirals have or pretend to have power, authority, or jurisdiction, should be inquired, tried, heard, determined, and judged in such shires and places in this realm, as should be limited by the King's commission or commissions, to be directed for the same, in like form and condition as if any such offence or offences had been committed or done in or upon the land, and that such commissions should be had under the King's great seal of this realm, directed to such persons therein described, as should be nominated or appointed by the lord chancellor of Ireland for the time being, from time to time, and as often as need should require, to hear and determine such offences, after the course of the common laws of this realm used for treasons, felonies, robberies, murders, and confederacies done and committed upon the land within this realm; be it therefore further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all commissions to be issued in virtue of the said recited act, shall and may be directed to the judge of the high court of admiralty of this kingdom, so to be appointed as aforesaid, and to three or four such other discreet persons as shall be nominated and appointed by the lord chancellor of Ireland, or keeper or keepers of the great seal for the time being, pursuant to said act; and that such commissioners or any two of them, and none other, shall and may hear and determine all and every the offence and offences named in the said act, and for that purpose shall and may have, use, and exercise all and every the powers and authorities which any justices of oyer and terminer or goal delivery, may have, use, and exercise, for and in respect of the aforesaid offences, when done and committed upon the land within this realm.