Definition
Vice-admiralty courts were royal courts in the colonies that heard maritime cases. A Navigation Act of 1696 let customs officers bring smuggling cases to them, where a Crown-appointed judge decided without a jury. Britain turned to them because colonial juries, often made up of merchants and ship captains, tended to acquit smugglers, as in Massachusetts in the late 1600s, when juries cleared seven of the ten seizures on Edward Randolph's list. The Sugar Act of 1764 sent accused smugglers to these courts, and the Stamp Act of 1765 allowed prosecutions there as well.
Why it matters on the AP exam
Colonists counted trial by jury among the rights of Englishmen, so courts without juries made the stricter enforcement after 1763 look like an attack on those rights. The courts were one sign that salutary neglect had ended, and the Declaration of Independence later listed depriving colonists of trial by jury in many cases among its charges against the king. Questions connect the courts to the Sugar Act, to the rights of Englishmen, and to British enforcement of trade laws.
Connections
- Sugar Act: the 1764 act sent accused smugglers to these courts
- Stamp Act: the 1765 act allowed prosecutions in them too
- Salutary neglect: heavier use of the courts after 1763 marked the end of loose enforcement
- Declaration of Independence: its list of grievances included the loss of trial by jury in many cases