Quebec. Vice-Admiralty Court : Vice-Admiralty Courts in America, as in the other British colonies, were created through letters patent or commissions under the seal of the High Court of Admiralty in London and operated under the jurisdiction of maritime law. Section XLV of the Act of Capitulation of Montreal of September 10, 1760 provided that records and other papers related to the Quebec Admiralty would remain, like other records, in the colony within the jurisdiction where the papers originated. The laws of the English admiralty were passed on to the Province of Quebec with the order of 1764, for the establishment of a civil government. The Vice-Admiralty Court was created on March 19, 1764, under the Vice-Admiral commission that Governor James Murray received from King George III under the great seal of the High Court of Admiralty in England. This commission covered the jurisdiction of the Province of Quebec and applied to cases involving maritime law on rivers, the St. Lawrence and its shores as well as the ocean nearby. The majority of the cases brought before this court involved ownership of a ship (in rem), but cases could also be brought against the persons concerned (in personam).
When a judge received a judge's commission for the Vice-Admiralty Court, he would also receive a commission of prize, or capture, which enabled him to seize enemy ships in wartime. In 1801, a prize court was established in Halifax, resulting in the revocation of the prize commission of Justice Kerr, then a judge of the Quebec Vice-Admiralty Court. For prize cases, the appeal could go to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London.
Appeals involving cases tried before the Vice-Admiralty Court were filed directly with the High Court of Admiralty in England and the King's Council, and with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London beginning in 1833.
In 1764, the players who were to act on a day-to-day basis in the Vice-Admiralty Court for the Province of Quebec were put in place. On August 24, 1764, Governor James Murray, as Vice-Admiral of the colony, appointed James Potts to serve as judge, commissioner and deputy for the Court of Vice-Admiralty under the great seal of the Vice-Admiralty for the Province of Quebec. In September, a registrar, a marshal and two counsel were appointed to the Court and sworn in. On September 11, 1764, the Vice-Admiralty Court was declared open. Four years later, on November 8, 1768, Potts received a judge's commission from the High Court of Admiralty in England. In the beginning the court did not sit regularly. Sessions were held by a single judge, the puisne judge from the Court of King's Bench for Lower Canada. In 1832, an order in council of the House of Parliament in London established the rules of procedure for Vice-Admiralty Courts and called for the Court to sit regularly, i.e., twice a week during the navigation season (May 1 to early November). During the rest of the year they would sit from time to time, as needed.
Between 1768 and 1797, the following judges served at the Vice-Admiralty Court in turn: Alexander Johnston, Peter Livius, Isaac Ogden and Jonathan Sewell. Some served only briefly, others for a few years, sharing their responsibility with the Court of Common Pleadings or the Court of King's Bench. Since Quebec City was considered to be rather far from the sea for a sea port (and was open only part of the year), very few cases were dealt with there. Some judges, like Livius, were appointed to the Vice-Admiralty Court in Montreal. Quebec City was the principal office of this court. However, the judge could preside in any city. On August 19, 1797, James Kerr received a judge's commission from the High Court of Vice-Admiralty in England. The commission was renewed under William IV on August 25, 1831. He went on to preside over the court for 37 years. He shared his time with the Court of King's Bench starting in 1807. In 1823, a decision in Howard v. the Camillus served to remind the Court of King's Bench of the Vice-Admiralty Court's jurisdiction. This judge was removed from office in 1834 because of a quarrel in the House of Assembly over his judge's fees and the exorbitant fees charged for certain cases. Following that case, a commission looked at adjusting the salaries of Vice-Admiralty judges, which had not changed since 1769. Furthermore, marine traffic had increased at the Quebec City port, to about 700 vessels a year by the 1830s. That figure would nearly double by the 1850s. In 1832, an order in council issued by the King's Council set out the rules of procedure for admiralty in order to standardize practices for all of the colonies. The order set out the fees to be collected but also the jurisdiction of the Vice-Admiralty Courts.
Justice Henry Black was the first judge to serve on a regular basis. On September 21, 1836, he received a commission under the Great Seal of the Province of Lower Canada, which was replaced by a commission under the Great Seal of the High Court of Admiralty in England on April 1, 1837. It was renewed under Victoria on October 27, 1838, and renewed a second time on February 10, 1841. He performed his judge's duties with the Vice-Admiralty Court until his death in 1873. He was a jurist recognized by his peers and did not hesitate to call on officers of the Royal Navy or the Masters of the Trinity House of Quebec for appraisals in cases involving a collision or pilotage on the St. Lawrence. George Okill Stuart succeeded Black in 1874. He had previously served as assistant to Justice Black, who was his uncle by marriage. Stuart prepared a compilation of proceedings and cases reported for this court before being appointed as a judge, taking an interest in the affairs of this court in advance. Justice George Irvine was appointed on June 7, 1884, and made the transition in 1891 from an admiralty judge to the Exchequer Court, Quebec District.
On July 25, 1890, the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, enacted in Great Britain, changed the Vice-Admiralty Courts to colonial courts of admiralty in the same jurisdiction. The Act came into force on July 1, 1891, in the colonies that enacted the same statute on that date. Once the Act came into force, all Vice-Admiralty Courts were abolished. Pending proceedings were to continue in a Colonial Court of Admiralty. Books, papers, documents and office furniture were issued to the Colonial Court of Admiralty. The officers of the Vice-Admiralty Court, the judge, the registrar and the marshal performed the same duties under the Colonial Court of Admiralty. In Canada, the Admiralty Act received royal assent on July 31, 1891. Under section 3, the Exchequer Court was constituted as an admiralty court. The Colonial Courts of Admiralty went on to become District Admiralty Courts of the Exchequer Court attached to a specific geographic location, such as the court of the Quebec Admiralty District of the Exchequer Court.
