Collection search - Vice Admiralty Court of Nova Scotia fonds [textual record]

Record information – Brief
1
Vice Admiralty Court of Nova Scotia fonds [textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1784-1818.

Reference:

R14523-0-5-E, RG8-IV

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

105370

Context of this record:

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Vice Admiralty Court of Nova Scotia fonds
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Record information – Details
Date(s):

1784-1818.

Bilingual equivalent:

Click here

Place of creation:

Nova Scotia

Extent:

16.75 m of textual records.

Language of material:

English

Added language of material:

English, French, Spanish

Scope and content:

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The surviving case files, financial and administrative records of the Vice Admiralty Court at Halifax are arranged in series reflecting its basic divisions and sub-divisions: Prize causes, appeals, condemnations jure corone, and recaptures; Instance causes for customs seizures of contraband cargo, salvage of wrecks, seamen's wages, etc. Within series, arrangement is by date and by name of the prize vessel or the subject of an Instance cause. Case files include all manner of documents created in the prosecution of a cause, or submitted as exhibits. Court officers generated libels, allegations, interrogatories, commissions for examination of witnesses, claims and attestations, monitions, decrees, and sentences. Certificates, licences, permits, instructions to masters, cargo manifests and other ships' papers, plus intercepted letters or other documents found on board captured vessels, or taken from Customs seizures or salvaged vessels were presented in court as exhibits. Some, but not all bills of costs and other financial records were segregated into sub-series for the Prize and Instance Courts, as indicated in the Finding Aid. These accounts document both the costs of prosecuting a case and the distribution of proceeds from the condemnation and sale of a prize between the Crown and the captor, or from Customs seizures. They also document the widespread economic effects of privateering, as the law required that the prize vessel be taken for condemnation and sale at the captor's home port of registry -- although the legal proceedings took place at Halifax.

Provenance:

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Vice Admiralty Court (N.S.)

Biography/Administrative history:

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Vice Admiralty Court (N.S.) : The concern of Admiralty courts with maritime matters must not be confused with that of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for administering the Royal Navy. Jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty in England began with piracy and spoil, and expanded over time to all cases involving privateering, ships and merchandise on the high seas or overseas. The court was divided into Prize and Instance jurisdiction. Prize was concerned with captures made both by licensed privateers and by Royal Navy ships. Instance was concerned with commercial disputes, wages, collision and salvage, as well as with Customs seizures. When trying piracy or murder on the high seas, the Instance Court division was termed Admiralty Sessions.

Courts of Vice Admiralty were established in overseas dominions, by letters patent or charter from the Crown, to exercise jurisdiction in maritime matters locally. Appeal from these courts was to the High Court of Admiralty and to the King in Council (later the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council). By his commission as Vice Admiral, the governor of a colony was responsible for the Vice Admiralty Court, but its day-to-day operations were confided to Judges (sometimes referred to as Deputy Commissaries), a Registrar (or clerk), a Marshal (with duties analagous to those of a sheriff), and the Receiver General of the Admiralty Droits. In his capacity as Vice Admiral, the governor signed and applied his seal to Letters of marque and reprisal, authorizing privateers from any port within his province to seize enemy vessels in time of war.

Richard Philips was the first governor of Nova Scotia given a commission as Vice Admiral (9 September 1720). In 1749 the Vice Admiralty Court was formally established at Halifax. When the boundaries of Nova Scotia were enlarged to incorporate territories recently ceded by France, the commission to Montagu Wilmot (22 February 1764) expanded the Court's jurisdiction to the Island of St John (later Prince Edward Island) and the territory later to become New Brunswick. The separation of the Island of St John from Nova Scotia in 1769 included creation of a new Vice Admiralty Court, limited to Instance jurisdiction. A separate court for New Brunswick was authorized by a commission of 10 November 1811, again limited to Instance jurisdiction. While a separate colony, 1784-1820, Cape Breton remained within the jurisdiction of the court at Halifax. The imperial statute 41 Geo. III c. 96 (1801) amended the Prize jurisdiction of all Vice Admiralty courts in North America and the West Indies.

Nineteenth-century commissions to Vice Admirals of Upper and Lower Canada and of British North America were recorded in the entrybooks now designated RG 68, volumes 92-96. All commissions were recorded at the time of issuance, in the entrybooks known as Admiralty Muniment Books (HCA 50 at the Public Record Office); transcripts of only a select few were available in MG 40, B 1 parts 5-6. Some High Court of Admiralty records have been acquired on microfilm (see MG 40, D 5, HCA 2 and HCA 32). A significant body of Vice Admiralty Court records for 1749-1818 is held at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Electronic) The finding aid provides a list of the vessels for which there are case files in the Prize or Instance divisions, with an index of them, and summary listings of the administrative or financial records in the remaining volumes. MSS0612 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001066.pdf

(Electronic) All or some of the documents described have been digitized and are available at the following address: (90: Open)
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_105370

Additional information:

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General note:

Some documents are in French and Spanish.
Subject heading:

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Privateering - Nova Scotia, 1784-1818 Great Britain. Admiralty. Vice Admiralty Courts, 1784-1818

Ship's papers, 1784-1818

Ship seizures, 1784-1818

Shipwrecks - Salvage, 1784-1818

Seamen - Pay, allowances, etc., 1784-1818

Slave ships
Source:

Private

Former archival reference no.:

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RG8-IV
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Conditions of access:

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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]
(Pending conservation treatment, the documents may be consulted only under supervision. Requests for photocopies will be refused if reproduction poses risks for the documents.)

Volume [RG8 IV] 1--427

[Consultation 90 Open]

Volume [R14523] 428

[Consultation 90 Open]

Finding aid box [FA 612] 61

[Consultation 90 Open]

Microfilm reel H-3026--H-3033

[Consultation 90 Open]

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