The Court of Admiralty of Ireland, 1575-1893

In 1575, the Lord Admiral of England, Edward Clinton, appointed Ambrose Forth as the first judge of the Admiralty in Ireland. Between 1575 and 1879, an independent Court of Admiralty functioned in Ireland, processing civil disputes over matters like seamen's wages, collision, and salvage. This book is an institutional history of this tribunal over its 300-hundred-year existence. It describes the often colorful - and sometimes venal - personalities of those men - like Adam Loftus, William Petty, Hugh Baillie, and Jonah Barrington - who held the office of judge of this Court. The study describes the levels and categories of judicial business conducted by the Court. It provides an account of the constant jurisdictional and doctrinal controversies in which the Court was involved - with the King's Bench of Ireland, with Irish municipal corporations, and with the English Court of Admiralty - over the limits of its jurisdiction in civil and prize matters.

Kevin Costello is a lecturer in the school of law, University College Dublin, and the author of The law of habeas corpus in Ireland (Dublin, 2006.)