Administration of Justice Act 1956

Admiralty jurisdiction of Belfast county court

2 (1) Subject to the limitations of amount specified in sub-paragraph (2) hereof, the local court (that is to say, the Court of the Recorder of Belfast) shall have the following Admiralty jurisdiction, that is to say, jurisdiction as respects any such claims as are mentioned in paragraphs (d) to (p) of sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 1 of this Part of this Schedule, and sub-paragraphs (3) and (4) of that paragraph shall, with necessary modifications, have effect in relation to that court:

Provided that in applying the said sub-paragraph (1) for the purposes of this paragraph the saving in paragraph (J) of the said sub-paragraph (1) for section five hundred and forty-seven of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, shall be left out of account.

(2) The limitations of amount referred to in sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph are as follows, that is to say, that the local court shall not have jurisdiction by virtue of this paragraph to hear and determine any claim for an amount exceeding one thousand pounds except in the case of a claim in the nature of salvage where the value of the property saved does not exceed three thousand five hundred pounds.

(3) Admiralty proceedings may be commenced in the local court if, and only if, either—

(a) in the case of an action in rem or in personam, the property to which the action relates is at the commencement of the proceedings within the district, for Admiralty purposes, of the local court; or

(b) in the case of an action in personam, the defendant or one or more of the defendants resides or reside or has or have a place of business within that district.

The district, for Admiralty purposes, of the local court shall be the county borough of Belfast and the counties of Down and Antrim with the parts of the sea adjacent to that borough and those counties to a distance of three miles from the shore thereof.

(4) If, as respect any proceedings as to any such claim as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph, the parties agree, by a memorandum signed by them or by their respective solicitors or agents, that the local court shall have jurisdiction in the proceedings, the local court shall, notwithstanding anything in sub-paragraph (2) or sub-paragraph (3) of this paragraph, have jurisdiction to hear and determine the proceedings accordingly.

(5) The preceding provisions of this paragraph shall have effect in lieu of the provisions of sections seventy-four and seventy-five of the Court of Admiralty (Ireland) Act, 1867, and section three of the Court of Admiralty (Ireland) Amendment Act, 1876, and the other provisions of those Acts shall have effect accordingly; and the references in section seventy-seven of the said Act of 1867 to the limit in respect of amount and in section four of the said Act of 1876 to the limit fixed by either of those Acts shall be construed as references to the limitations of amount specified in sub-paragraph (2) of this paragraph.

(6) Nothing in this paragraph shall be taken to confer on the local court the jurisdiction of a Prize Court within the meaning of the Naval Prize Acts, 1864 to 1916.