Mossy Feet Books: Preview Chapter - Time Line of the American Revolution - 1776 - South Carolina General Assembly Establishes Court of Admiralty

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Preview Chapter - Time Line of the American Revolution - 1776 - South Carolina General Assembly Establishes Court of Admiralty

Time Line of the American Revolution - 1776

Time Line of the American Revolution - 1776
A Journal of the War of Independence

Book 2

South Carolina General Assembly Establishes Court of Admiralty
April 11, 1776 - South Carolina General Assembly Establishes Court of Admiralty
On April 11, 1776 the South Carolina Assembly passed a bill that established a Court of Admiralty to "have jurisdiction of all cases of the capture of ships and other vessels of the inhabitants of Great Britain, Ireland, British West Indies, Nova Scotia, East and West Florida; to establish trial by jury, in the Court of Admiralty, in cases of capture; and for the other purposes therein mentioned."

Admiralty Court
An admiralty court has jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offenses. One duty of the admiralty court was to decide if a prize taken in wartime by a privateer was a legal prize, under the terms of the letter of marque . During the Revolutionary War most admiralty courts did not allow an appeal on a judgment to the Continental Congress. Of the twelve admiralty courts established, only Maryland and New Hampshire allowed an appeal to Congress. In the remainder a decision by a judge was final.