letters patent to the Duke of York as Lord High Admiral could not be 
abridged by any subsequent grant—here the December 14, 1661, royal proclamation 
for the encouragement of the settlers in Jamaica. He further asserted 
that no legislative act derivative from that proclamation could prejudice a 
prior right granted to the Admiral. 353 It was thereupon agreed that Governor 
Vaughan be advised of the royal dissatisfaction at the admission of the jurisdictional 
plea and of the inability of the local legislature to lessen the Lord 
High Admiral's jurisdiction; that an appeal being made to the King, the governor 
should cause good security to be given by the interloper to answer in 
case of forfeiture under the Royal African Company charter. 354 This episode 
is also reflected in the legislative review process by alertness against Jamaican 
acts extending parish bounds beyond the high water mark. 355 
In addition to hearing appeals the Council Board also exercised the power 
of ordering reviews or rehearings held in colonial courts. In two instances in 
1693-94, one from Virginia 356 and one from Maryland, 357 the Lords Committee 
advised review or rehearing upon complaints of injustice. But in the 
following century it was denied that the power to order rehearings below was 
possessed by the Privy Council. 358 
THE COMMITTEE APPRAISED 
Returning now to a consideration of the composition of the appellate body, 
we find that appeals were heard before Committees composed of anywhere 
from three to twelve members, with seven a fair average. There was little 
continuity of personnel, more than fifty different persons being found in attendance 
at various times. 359 What is more significant is the lack of a consistent 
nucleus of councilors learned in the law. We have noticed sporadic 
attendance by Lord Chancellor Jeffreys, Sir Leoline Jenkins, Francis North 
(as Chief Justice and Lord Keeper), and Master of the Rolls Powle. Apparently 
there was no endeavor to have a legal luminary present at every appeal 
hearing. 
Since the Committee and the Council were not composed of members 
353 Ibid., #987. For the royal proclamation 
see 6 Howell, State Trials, 1353-54; N. B. 
Livingston, Sketch Pedigrees of Some of the 
Early Settlers in Jamaica (1909), Part II; cf. 
Whitson, The Constitutional Development of 
Jamaica (1929), 15-16. On the patent of the 
Duke of York as Lord High Admiral see 
Crump, op. cit., 102-3. The point was also 
raised whether the Royal African Company 
charter was void under the Statute against 
Monopolies, but we are not concerned with 
this aspect of the matter here. 
z Si CSP, Col, 1675-76, #988-89. Harper 
{The English Navigation Imws [i939]> 187) 
wrongly terms the administrative treatment 
of the matter an "appeal." 
355 CO 391/2/126, 217-18. 
■" 6 2 AVC, Col., #502; CSP, Col., 1693-96, 
#328; CO 391/7/181. 
357 CO 391/7/267-68. 
35 » See infra, pp. 316-17. 
359 For. a list of the most active members see 
Bieber, The Lords of Trade and Plantations, 
1675-96, Appen. D.