respective colonies, progressing from the various courts of common law to 
the Governor and Council, then to the King in Council. Thus, the instructions 
covering appeals to the King in Council in their language and context 
seem applicable only to causes coming before the Governor and Council upon 
appeal. 90 What, then, of appeals from the original chancery jurisdiction exercised 
by the respective governors and councils of such colonies as Barbados 
and the Leeward Islands? Or stronger yet, from the governor alone, in 
Jamaica ? The record is silent, for we have seen no evidence that this question 
of instructional interpretation was raised in the seventeenth century, although 
appeals from such chancery bodies were in fact entertained by the Committee 
91 
VICE-ADMIRALTY APPEALS 
Another less subtle omission in these commissions and instructions was that 
of appeals from the vice-admiralty courts held in various colonies. It is now 
necessary to consider the constitution of these courts. Shortly after the Restoration, 
James, Duke of York, was constituted Lord High Admiral of England, 
Wales, Ireland, Normandy, Calais, Acquitaine, and the dominions beyond 
the seas. By a later patent he was made Lord High Admiral of enumerated 
dominions of the crown outside the realm, including New England, Jamaica, 
Virginia, Barbados, St. Christopher, Bermuda, and Antigua. 
As a result of these patents to the Duke of York, it is clear that the exercise 
of admiralty jurisdiction in the named plantations was to depend upon deputation 
from him, and accordingly James issued a number of colonial commissions 
under the Admiralty seal. It is to be noticed that the grant of particular 
authority in the plantations to one already patented Lord High Admiral was 
an obvious exercise of the royal prerogative in dominions overseas long since 
recognized by the English courts to be a prerogative not restrained by considerations 
which applied in the realm. Under current legal doctrine, therefore, 
it was within royal power to treat the admiralty jurisdiction in America 
as not appendant to the office of Lord High Admiral, but, in medieval parlance, 
as matter en gros. The fact that the American commissions issued under the 
Admiralty seal is an immaterial administrative detail. Upon the passage of the 
Test Act (1673), James was compelled to resign as Lord High Admiral of 
England, but he continued in his rights as to the plantations, and his commissions 
continued to issue under the Admiralty seal. Furthermore, the Ad- 
90 See 1 Labaree, Royal Instructions, #445, 
448-49 (for Jamaica). 
91 The only appeal taken from these chancery 
courts under the seemingly restrictive instructions 
was Bate v. Gibbs (PC 2/76/184) from 
Barbados. There are also earlier appeals before 
the instructions assumed their restrictive character; 
see Raynesford and Stokes v. Gorges 
(PC 2/72/546); Scott v. Dyer (PC 2/71/556); 
Knight v. Hallett (PC 2/72/666).