A Treatise on Admiralty and Prize Author:David Roberts Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 34 ACTION OF AMERICAN comitatus and infra primos pontes ; nature of the Contract and Tort; contests of the Civil and Common-law Courts in England; the United ... more »States Constitution; the General Judiciary Act of the United States in 1789 ; also that of February 26, 1845; States rights, and right of trial by jury generally. While the great struggle was going on in England, and after the " Lex Mercatoria " had been published, and the acts of 1648, under the Commonwealth, were adopted, the subject of admiralty and maritime law also occupied the attention of the Colonists in America. In Massachusetts, as early as 1650 and 1651, this subject was noticed by its Legislature. In the Massachusetts Records, vol. iii. page 193, it appears that the General Court, May 23,1650, deemed the " Commonwealth defective for want of Lawes in mary- time affayers; but as there were many good lawes in our land, in the French nation and other kingdoms and nations," it therefore ordered a committee to peruse the "Lex Mercatoria," so that this court might adopt such as it approved. But that committee, not having met, on October 14, 1651, the court thereupon appointed Mr. Nowell and the Auditor-General to act and report to the next General Court. If any report was ever made, no definitive action was taken by the General Court, until October 14, 1668 (Mass. Rec., vol. iv. part 2, page 388), when it adopted the first admiralty code in this State, which will be found printed in full in Appendix (D). While it indicates that the rights of owners, duties of masters and mariners, average, collision, damage, punishments, desertions, negligence, proper equipment and supplies for vessels, etc., were cognizable by this maritime court; COLONISTS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 35 which was constituted expressly " for the...« less