ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION, in American practice, extends, in criminal cases, to offenses committed beyond any national jurisdiction and on the high sea. In civil matters it includes salvage, bottomry, hypothecation, seizures under the laws of trade: navigation or customs; prizes, charters, certain contracts between different states or foreign ports, contracts for conveyances, maritime contributions, pilotage, ship surveys, and in general all cases of trespasses, damages, assaults, etc., on the seas. The district court of the U. S. in which the action is brought has original jurisdiction. There are no admiralty courts so named. Cases may be removed to the circuit and thence to the supreme court. A suit in a civil case is brought by tiling a libel, upon which a warrant for arrest or attachment may issue; or there may be a simple notice to appear; or there may be process for the arrest and seizure of the articles. Thereafter stipulations may he made or bail taken. Testimony may be given orally, but in cases of importance it is usually writtea, No juries are called; the decree of time court ends the matter. In a criminal prosecution under A. J. the proceedings are according to those at common law. With regard to jurisdiction, where a seizure has been made the court of that especial section has jurisdiction, though the act of seizing may have occurred in a different district. Iu seizures out of special jurisdiction, or on the high seas, the court where the goods, persons or things may be lauded has jurisdiction. A district court has also jurisdiction over all torts and injuries committed at sea or within ebb and flow of the tide. In one instance A. J. was held and admitted in a case of collision that happened in an inland state on a river more than 200 in. from the ocean. Any court having A..1. has the power to redress personal wrong treatment of a passenger at sea by the master of a vessel. Asa court of admiralty, the district court has, concurrent with common
law courts, jurisdiction over maritime contracts without exception as to form or by whomsoever executed, such as charter parties for foreign transit, the wages of seamen, etc. To a certain extent all these matters of jurisdiction apply to our lakes and navigable rivers. Seamen in port, if ou tide-water, engaged in commerce, are within A. J.; but hands on ferries are not. Persons actually employed in the navigating of a vessel, such as pilots, engineers, firemen or dockhands, may site for wages under A. J.; but waiters, musicians, and those who have no part in navigation, cannot. Con °Tess has provided for extraordinary jurisdiction in admiralty in cases of seizure under the navigation, trade or impost laws of the U. S.; but the act reserves to all sailors the common law remedy, where the common law is competent to furnish it. A. J. extends over captures within the waters of the U. S., or within a marine league of land; the civil jurisdiction extends to seizures on land under federal laws, and suits for penalties and forfeitures incurred under such laws. But in the hearing of seizures on land the court sits as at common law, with jurisdiction distinct front that in case of seizure on navigable waters; and these common law seizures may be tried by jury. Suits to the lower limit of $100, instituted by the U. S. or an officer thereof, are within A. J. Under this provision the head of a department, as the postmaster general, may sue for money due the government. Lastly, actions by or against our consular representatives are embraced in A. J. By an act of 1842 the district (or admiralty) courts have concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts in crimes and offenses against the nation that are not liable to capital punishment.