NRS-14493 | Case papers [Vice Admiralty Court]

Full description

Procedures in the Vice Admiralty Court were regulated by Rules and Regulations made by an Order in the Privy Council. By the Rules and Regulation of 1832, pursuant to Act 2 Will. IV. c.51, an action was commenced with an entry by the Proctor in the Action Book which stated the nature of the claim, defendant (usually a vessel as proceedings were generally in rem), sum of the action and probable costs. Before the warrant of arrest could be issued, the plaintiff had to make an affidavit setting out the nature of the demand. The defendant, after the entry of the action, could give bail thereby avoiding the expense consequent on the issue of a process of the Court. 

Procedures in the Court were substantially amended by the Rules and Regulations of 1883, which came into force on 1 January 1884. Actions were to be numbered consecutively in the order to which they were instituted and could be consolidated by an order of the judge if the questions at issue appeared to be substantially the same. Actions could be of two kinds: in rem (against goods, eg. a vessel) or in personam (against a person, eg. the owner or master of a vessel). They were commenced by a writ of summons. 

Although the warrant of arrest could be issued at the time of, or any time after, the issue of a writ of summons, an affidavit stating the nature of the claim had to first be filed in the Court. If the defendant appeared to a writ of summons, an appearance, which could include a counterclaim against the plaintiff, had to be filed. From this point, as under the Rules and Regulations of 1832, the proceedings and the case papers would vary depending on the nature of the action. 

The case papers consist of proceedings in the Court in its ordinary civil jurisdiction. The majority of the cases concern suits for subtraction of wages, salvage services rendered, necessaries supplied, failure to discharge bottomry bonds, right to possession of a vessel and damages by collision. Other cases deal with breaches of Revenue and Customs Laws or the Laws relating to the abolition of the slave trade.

(4/7595-604, 2/8583-614). 43 boxes (part). 

A chronological list of Ships and other defendants, 1826-1883 is available as Appendix E in the Vice Admiralty Guide, 1787-1911.

An index to Ships and other defendants, 1826-1911 is available as the Vice Admiralty Guide Appendix F.

Note:
This description, as amended, is extracted from Concise Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales, 3rd Edition 2000.