Catalogue description Records of Vice-Admiralty Courts

Anciently, many seaport boroughs had courts of Admiralty but, except in the Cinque Ports, their jurisdiction was abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Abroad, Vice-Admiralty courts were established from the early part of the 17th century, acting under commissions from the Crown authorising governors of colonies to exercise such powers as in England appertained to the Lord High Admiral. Subsequently they were regulated by various statutes, the last of which was the Vice-Admiralty Courts Act 1863. This Act was repealed by the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890 under which Admiralty jurisdiction outside the United Kingdom was subsequently exercised, though nowadays on a greatly reduced scale following the grant of independence to many former colonies.

Appeals from decisions of Vice-Admiralty courts lay variously to the High Court of Admiralty, the High Court of Appeals for Prizes and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Appeals from colonial Courts of Admiralty in the exercise of their civil jurisdiction lie to any local court of appeal and thereafter to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which also hears appeals in prize causes.