Droits Of Admiralty - Definition - Law Dictionary

Definition :

Droits of admiralty, the perquisites attached to the office of Admiral of England (or Lord High Admiral). Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Queen Anne and Lord High Admiral, resigned the rights to these droits to the Crown for a salary, as Lord High Admiral, of 7,000l. a year. When the office was vacant, they belonged to the Crown. Of these perquisites, the most valuable is the right to the property of an enemy seized on the breaking out of hostilities. In the arrangement of the Civil List during the recent reigns, it was settled that whatever droits of Admiralty accrued were to be paid into the Exchequer for the use of the public. The Lord High Admiral's right to the tenth part of the property captured on the seas has been relinquished in favour of the captors. Droits of Admiralty also included all unclaimed wreck, flotsam, jetsam, ligan and derelict, which are now dealt with by the (English) Receiver of Wreck for the District, Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 60), ss. 523-528; and (English) Droits of Admiralty must be distinguished from Droits of the Crown in time of war, see PRIZE. The Admiralty jurisdiction in the High Court, however, extends to trover property and ships recaptured from pirates, (English) Judic. Act, 1925, s. 22