Admiralty Lawyers

History of Admiralty Law

Admiralty Law in the United States came into effect when the Judiciary Act of 1789 gave exclusive jurisdiction to federal district courts. This made the Supreme Court the ultimate authority on admiralty law. While the U.S. Constitution extended federal judicial power to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, there is still a 'saving' clause that permits state courts to hear some maritime cases.

The admiralty law system of the United States borrows a lot from the English system which initially dealt mostly with piracy or naval discipline. Later, the English system branched out into other commercial issues.

Prior to these European laws, admiralty doctrines were based on previous individual recordings. The Island of Rhodes is felt to have had the earliest written admiralty code. The customs of early Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Greeks played also played a large role in the creation of European admiralty laws. As a result of this, modern Admiralty Law consists of laws that are derived from custom, judicial decisions, legislative enactments, and international treaties.

One of the first cases of admiralty laws in the United States was the 1818 decision regarding the plundering of the Amiable Nancy by the American vessel Scourge in 1814. In 1814, the Scourge was employed by the United States government to attack British vessels during the War of 1812. It came across the Amiable Nancy, a Haitian ship, and sailors boarded the Haitian vessel then proceeded to plunder the ships cargo, papers, and important documents. The Supreme Court decided that the owners of the Scourge could not be held accountable for something that an irresponsible captain authorized and so withheld damages from the owners of the Amiable Nancy.