The question might be asked whether it made any difference to a litigant 
whether his appeal was to the High Court of Admiralty or to the King in 
Council. Apparently the answer is in the affirmative, for in the appeal of 
Grant v. Newton from a Nova Scotia Vice-Admiralty Court sentence (July 
13, 1759) we find obvious preference for the Privy Council as opposed to the 
High Court of Admiralty as an appellate body. In this case the clerk of the 
Vice-Admiralty Court mistakenly certified in the record that an appeal had 
been entered to the High Court of Admiralty. 337 Rather than abide by this mistake, 
appellant petitioned the King in Council for leave to appeal from the 
above sentence in March, 1760. Leave was accordingly granted, and the appeal 
was entered. 338 Justification of insistence upon the Privy Council as the appellate 
body appears in a reversal by consent of as much of the sentence as 
condemned the Rising Sun and her cargo. 339 
COLONIAL REVIEW OF ADMIRALTY CASES 
In addition to direct review of vice-admiralty court sentences, we must consider 
the possibility of colonial review and appeal therefrom. Such internal 
review was important for its influence upon the election of an ultimate appellate 
tribunal. For in the case of review of vice-admiralty court sentences 
by a provincial Court of Delegates or some other local body, it was unlikely 
that further appeal would be made to the High Court of Admiralty. We have 
already seen that some discouragement was given to several attempts at such 
review. 340 Let us now consider other instances of internal review. In Jamaica, 
on July 1, 1700, one John Cooke moved for leave to alter the title of a petition 
and appeal filed in the Chancery on behalf of William Brown, Daniel 
Zachery, John Warton, and Samuel Jacklin, owners of the sloop John and 
Samuel, from a February 15, 1698/9, sentence of the local vice-admiralty court. 
The court gave liberty to Cooke to direct the petition and appeal to the 
Chancellor, and ordered a commission to issue to Nicholas Lawe (Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court), Peter Beckford and Peter Hey wood (masters 
in Chancery), or any two of them, to sit as a "Court of Delegates" to hear, try, 
judge, and pass a definitive sentence upon the appeal. 341 On July 28 this Court 
of Delegates met and ordered the register of the Admiralty to send up a transcript 
of all the records relating to the appeal. On August 3 the Court of 
Delegates, upon due consideration after argument, reversed the sentence of 
the Vice-Admiralty Court and ordered refunded to the owners the money arising 
from sale of the vessel and cargo. 342 By analogy to the domestic situation 
337 Case of Appellant {Add. MS, 36218/82). siI MS Jamaica Chancery Order Book, 1697- 
338 PC 2/107/278, 291, 295, 307. 
339 PC 2/108/153, 177. 
1704, 30-31. 
342 Ibid. The sentence is stated to be set forth 
at large "in the book of Chancery Records 
340 See supra, p. 92 et seq.