From Jan. 1, 1982, the statutory framework of Admiralty Jurisdiction in England and Wales1 is to be found (as regards the High Court) in the Supreme Court Act 1981 (ss. 20–24)2 and (as regards the County Court) in the County Courts Act 1959 as amended by the Supreme Court Act 1981, s. 149(1), Sch. 3, paras. 4, 5.3 The Supreme Court Act (inter alia) is “to consolidate with amendments” enactments relating to the Supreme Court in England and Wales and is also “for connected purposes”.

Undoubtedly provisions relating to the Supreme Court as a whole were in need of consolidation, and Admiralty jurisdiction last “consolidated” in the Administration of Justice Act 1956 (hereafter “the Act of 1956”) has also been affected by changes in court structure and the enactments relating to pollution and nuclear activities. It should be recalled that the enactment of the Act of 1956 was—to put it at the lowest—linked with the United Kingdom ratifying the International Convention Relating to the Arrest of Sea Going Ships 1952 (hereafter the Arrest Convention). As from the date of ratification (Mar. 18, 1959) the U.K. is under an international obligation to put its law into Convention clothes. The original garment (the Act of 1956), while providing a decent coverage, did not encompass all that internationally it should have done. And it is perhaps a commentary on the peculiarities of the English Admiralty approach that those provisions relating to England and Wales accomplished the feat of “enacting” the Arrest Convention with the only reference to arrest being the exclusion of Crown ships from arrest. The Supreme Court Act 1981, therefore, provided an opportunity to bring together the framework of Admiralty jurisdiction, to meet international obligations and, with respect, to make the whole a little less complex.

The Act simplifies in that it is more clearly drafted than the Act of 1956. Anyone who has grappled with the provisions of the Act of 1956 relating to actions in rem