Office of the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty | |
---|---|
![]() Ensign of the Royal Navy | |
Judicial Department | |
Reports to | First Lord of the Admiralty |
Nominator | First Lord of the Admiralty |
Appointer | Prime Minister Subject to formal approval by the Queen-in-Council |
Term length | Not fixed |
Inaugural holder | William Lacy, LL.B. |
Formation | 1483-1875 |
The Judge of the High Court of Admiralty was established in 1483 he was the chief law officer of the High Court of Admiralty. The office holder was supported by various officials and existed until 1875. [1]
The High Court of Admiralty was created as a separate court following the Battle of Sluys in 1340. In the following century, it was administered by the Vice-Admiral of England who was the deputy of the Lord High Admiral who acted as the courts judge. The high court of admiralty absorbed the jurisdiction duties of the separate admiralty courts of the admirals of the north, south and west by 1414. [2] In 1483 it was decided to establish a distinct office separate from that of the Vice-Admiral of England thus relieving him from one of his responsibilities. Until the resignation of the Duke of York in 1673 the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty was appointed by the Lord High Admiral by letters patent. From 1673 appointments were granted by the monarch and confirmed by letters patent. There was one exception to this rule in 1714 when Judge Henchman was appointed by the Board of Admiralty. Between the years 1694 to 1707 he was a member of the Privy Council of England and until 1714 the Privy Council of Great Britain. In all there were 40 Judges of the High Court of Admiralty appointed some served more than once from 1483 until 1875 when the court itself was abolished thus bringing to an end nearly 400 years of history. The office holder was part of the admiralty's Judicial Department. [1]
HCA
In English law, the justices in eyre were the highest magistrates, and presided over the court of justice-seat, a triennial court held to punish offenders against the forest law and enquire into the state of the forest and its officers.
The Barons of the Exchequer, or barones scaccarii, were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (inferior) barons. When Robert Shute was appointed second baron in June 1579 the patent declared "he shall be reputed and be of the same order, rank, estimation, dignity and pre-eminence to all intents and purposes as any puisne judge of either of the two other courts." The rise of commercial trade in Elizabethan England occasioned fraudulent application of the Quo minus writ. More taxation demanded staff at the exchequer to sift an increase in the case load causing more widespread litigation cases to come to the court. From the 1580s onwards the Barons of Exchequer were no longer held in such low regard, and more likely to be Serjeants-at-law before qualification. The Inns of Courts began to exclude solicitors, and held posts for judges and barons open equally to barristers. In 1591, Regulations reflected a case in which the Lord Keeper Egerton banned solicitors from seeking cases in the Exchequer.
The Judge Advocate of the Fleet was an appointed civilian judge who was responsible for the supervision and superintendence of the court martial system in the Royal Navy from 1663 to 2008.
The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who presided in the equity court and answered the bar i.e. spoke for the court." Practically speaking, he held the most important office of the Exchequer of Pleas.
The holder of the post Vice-Admiral of Cumberland was responsible for the defence of the county of Cumberland, England.
The Surveyor of the Navy also known as Department of the Surveyor of the Navy and originally known as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy was a former principal commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 1546 until its abolition in 1832 and then a member Board of Admiralty from 1848 to 1859. In 1860 the office was renamed Controller of The Navy until 1869 when the office was merged with that of the Third Naval Lord's the post holder held overall responsibility for the design of British warships.
The Vice-Admiral of the coast of Durham was responsible for the defence County Durham, England.
The Vice-Admiral of Dorset was responsible for the defence of the County of Dorset, England.
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the direction and control of the Admiralty, and also of general administration of the Naval Service of the Kingdom of England, Great Britain in the 18th century, and then the United Kingdom, including the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, and other services. It was one of the earliest known permanent government posts. Apart from being the political head of the Naval Service the post holder was simultaneously the pre-eminent member of the Board of Admiralty. The office of First Lord of the Admiralty existed from 1628 until it was abolished when the Admiralty, Air Ministry, Ministry of Defence and War Office were all merged to form the new Ministry of Defence in 1964. Its modern-day equivalent is the Secretary of State for Defence.
The Admiralty Advocate was one of the Law Officers of the Crown. He represented the Crown in the High Court of Admiralty from 1661 to 1867. He was also known as the Advocate for the Affairs of the Admiralty.
Sir Thomas Crompton was an English barrister and judge who briefly sat in the House of Commons in the years 1587, 1601, and 1604. He became master in chancery in 1608, shortly before his death.
William Sammes was an English lawyer and Judge of the High Court of Admiralty.
The Admiralty and Marine Affairs Office (1546–1707), previously known as the Admiralty Office (1414–1546), was a government department of the Kingdom of England, responsible for the Royal Navy. First established in 1414 when the offices of the separate Admiral of the North and West were abolished and their functions unified under a single centralised command, it was headed by the Lord High Admiral of England. The department existed until 1707 when England and Scotland united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, after which it was known as the British Admiralty.
During the early 17th century, England's relative naval power deteriorated; in the course of the rest of the 17th century, the office of the Admiralty and Marine Affairs steered the Navy's transition from a semi-amateur Navy Royal fighting in conjunction with private vessels into a fully professional institution, a Royal Navy. Its financial provisions were gradually regularised, it came to rely on dedicated warships only, and it developed a professional officer corps with a defined career structure, superseding an earlier mix of sailors and socially prominent former soldiers.
The Comptroller of the Navy originally called the Clerk Comptroller of the Navy was originally a principal member of the English Navy Royal, and later the British Royal Navy, Navy Board. From 1512 until 1832, the Comptroller was mainly responsible for all British naval spending and directing the business of the Navy Board from 1660 as its chairman. The position was abolished in 1832 when the Navy Board was merged into the Board of Admiralty. The comptroller was based at the Navy Office.
The Counsel to the Navy Department, Ministry of Defence originally called Counsel to the Navy Board was an appointed legal adviser to the Royal Navy from 1673 to 1995.