CINQUE PORTS, the name of an association of maritime towns in the south of England, exercising a jurisdiction dating from about the time of the Norman Conquest, organized, it seems on French lines, in the 13th century, and still surviving. The ports originally constituting the body were only five in number— Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich; but to these were afterwards added the "ancient towns" of Winchelsea and Rye with the same privileges, and other places, both corporate and non-corporate, which, with the title of limb or member, held a subordinate position. To Hastings were attached the corporate members of Pevensey and Seaford, and the non-corporate mem bers of Bulvarhythe, Petit Iham (Yham or Higham), Hydney, Bekesbourn, Northeye and Grenche or Grange; to Romney, Lydd, and Old Romney, Dengemarsh, Orwaldstone and Bromehill or Promehill; to Dover, Folkestone and Faversham, and Margate, St. John's, Goresend (now Birchington), Birchington Wood (now Woodchurch), St. Peter's, Kingsdown and Ringwould; to Sand wich, Fordwich and Deal, and Walmer, Ramsgate, Reculver, Stonor (Estanor), Sarre (or Serre) and Brightlingsea (in Essex). To Rye was attached the corporate member of Tenterden, and to Hythe the non-corporate member of West Hythe. The jurisdic tion thus extends from Seaford in Sussex to Birchington near Mar gate in Kent, and includes part of the Essex coast.
The duty of the Cinque Ports until the reign of Henry VII. was to furnish nearly all the ships and men that were needful for the king's service ; and for a long time after they were required to give large assistance to the permanent fleet. In return for their services the ports enjoyed extensive privileges (see Jeake's Char ters of the Cinque Ports, still the chief authority in print) .
The highest office in connection with the Cinque Ports is that of the lord warden, who is also constable of Dover Castle; the two offices have for centuries been held by the same persons, but are still distinct. He has a maritime jurisdiction as admiral of the ports. His power was formerly of great extent, but he has now practically no important duty to exercise except that of chairman of the Dover harbour board. Walmer Castle was for long the official residence of the lord warden, and its use as such, though intermittent, is not obsolete.
The jurisdiction of the court is in theory concurrent with that of the king's court of admiralty, subject to some statutory modifi cations. Cases of collision have been tried in it (the "Vivid," 1 Asp. Maritime Law Cases, 6o1), but of late mainly salvage cases (the "Clarisse," Swabey, 129; the "Marie," Law. Rep. 7 P.D. 203).
Dr. (afterwards the Right Hon. Robert Joseph) Phillimore succeeded his father as judge of the court from 1855 to 1875. He was succeeded by Arthur Cohen, K.C. In 1914 Cohen resigned, and Sir F. Pollock was appointed by Lord Beauchamp, who had lately become lord warden. As Sir R. Phillimore was also the last judge of the high court of admiralty, from 1867 (the date of his appointment to the high court) to 1875, the two offices were, probably for the only time in history, held by the same person. Dr. Phillimore's patent had a grant of the "place or office of judge official and commissary of the court of admiralty of the Cinque Ports, and their members and appurtenances, and to be assistant to my lieutenant of Dover castle in all such affairs and business concerning the said court of admiralty wherein yourself and assistance shall be requisite and necessary." Of old the court sat sometimes at Sandwich, sometimes at other ports. But the regular place for the sitting of the court has for a long time been, and still is, the aisle of St. James's church, Dover. For convenience the judge has in recent times sat at the royal courts of justice. There has been no full sitting since Cohen's time. The office of marshal in the high court is represented in this court by a serjeant, who also bears a silver oar. There is a registrar who, according to general civilian practice, can act as the judge's deputy; he deals at Dover with the small matters which keep the jurisdiction alive. An appeal is to the king in council, advised by the judicial committee. For details of the jurisdiction see the Cinque Ports Act, 1821. At present the judge's only active duty is to officiate at the installation of a new lord warden. Sir F. Pollock died Jan. 18, The Cinque Ports from the earliest times claimed to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the admiral of England. Their early charters do not, like those of Bristol and other seaports, express this exemption in terms. It seems to have been derived from the general words of the charters which preserve their liberties and privileges.
The lord warden's claim to prize was raised in, but not finally decided by, the high court of admiralty in the "Ooster Ems," I C. Rob. 284, 1783. No trace has been found of any later attempt to assert it.
See S. Jeake, Charters of the Cinque Ports (1728) ; Knocker, Grand Court of Shepway (1862) ; M. Burrows, Cinque Ports (1895) ; Indices of the Great White and Black Books of the Cinque Ports (19o5) ; Benoist-Lucy, Les Cinq-Ports (191I) , a short but accurate study ; J. H. Round, Feudal England (1895) , p. seq.; Encyclopaedia of the Laws of England (2nd edition, 1907) iii. 70; Halsbury, Laws of England, i. 139; ix. 127; Sir F. Pollock, "Cinque Ports Jurisdiction," Law Quart. Rev. xli. 453. The archives of the Cinque Ports are naturally not in one place ; the chief repositories are at New Romney, Dover and Rye.