7977 CASES SELECTED FROM THOSE HEARD AND DETERMINED IN THE VICE-ADMIRALTY COURT FOR LOWER CANADA. RELATING CHIEFLY TO THE Jurisdiction and Practice of the Court, OR INVOLVING Questions of Maritime Law OF FREQUENT OCCURRENCE IN THE TRADE AND NAVIGATION PRECEDED BY THE RULES AND REGULATIONS ESTABLISHED UNDER THE WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE ORIGINAL COMMISSION CONSTITUTING THE COURT, 63181 EDITED BY GEORGE OKILL STUART, ESQ., Q.C. velil LONDON: V. & R. STEVENS, AND G. S. NORTON, Law Booksellers and Publishers. 1858. PREFACE. SHORTLY after the Treaty of Paris of the 10th of February, 1763, by which Canada was ceded by the Crown of France to that of Great Britain, His Majesty King George the Third issued a Commission under the Great Seal of the High Court of Admiralty of England, establishing a Court of Vice-Admiralty for the province of Quebec (now called the province of Canada), to have jurisdiction therein according to the civil and maritime laws, and ancient customs of His Majesty's High Court of Admiralty; and this Court, as will appear by the documents in the Appendix, has been continued by repeated Commissions down to the present time, so far as Lower Canada is concerned. The records of the Court up to the time of the passing of the Imperial Act, 2 Will. 4, c. 51, to regulate the practice in the Vice-Admiralty Courts, and to obviate doubts as to their jurisdiction, afford little information as to the extent and nature of the cases brought before it, or of the principles of jurisprudence established by them. Many important revenue cases were decided by the Court, in the time of Mr. Kerr, of which it is to be regretted that no reports exist. Two interesting judgments of that gentleman will be found in the Appendix. Since the Court was established the trade by the St. Lawrence has increased from an average yearly tonnage of 5496 tons to that of 618,926 tons; and its growing importance, and the belief that this must render the jurisprudence and practice of the Court an object of interest, as well to the profession as to those engaged in the commerce and navigation of the river and gulf, has been the motive which has led to the publication of the present volume. LONDON, 8th March, 1858. |