The constitution of parliaments in England deduced from the time of King Edward the Second, illustrated by King Charles the Second in his Parliament summon'd the 18 of February 1660/1, and dissolved the 24 of January 1678/9 : with an appendix of its sessions / observed by Sr. John Pettus ... Knight.

SECT. XIII. Of the Lord Admiral of England.

[Obs. I] THE Kings of England do constantly make Admirals of Squadrons of Ships, but the Admiral which I am here to speak of, is the highest of all, intituled the Lord Admiral of England, and may be well call'd Admirals, from their seeing and knowing the mirabilia, or Wonders of the Deep. The Greeks call'd this Officer Thalassiarcha, from Thalassa, the Sea, and Archos, the Chief at Sea, and from thence the Romans (according to the Latin Idiom) call'd him Thalassiarchus, and of later days Admirallus (which is no Latin word) and in English Admiral.

2. To him is committed the Government of the King of England's Navy, and Power to decide all causes Maritim, as well Ci∣vil as Criminal, and of all things done on, or beyond the Seas in any part of the World, and many other Jurisdictions on the Coasts, and in Ports, Havens, and Rivers, and of such Wrecks and Prizes as are call'd by the Lawyers, Lagon, Jetson, and Flotson, that is, Goods lying in the Sea, floting on the Sea, or cast by the Sea on the shore (admitting some few ex∣ceptions and Royalties granted to other Lords of Mannors.) And these and all other Cases dependant on this Jurisdiction are determin'd in his Courts of Admiral∣ty, by such Rules of the Civil Law as do not invade the Common Laws of Eng∣land.

3. And of these Civil Laws which con∣cern Sea assairs there are two most emi∣nent Guiders to Civilians, viz. Those made at Rhodes (in the Mediterranean) by the Grecians, and augmented by the Romans, call'd Lex Rhodia, or the Rho∣dian Law. The other made at Oleron (an Island anciently belonging to England, but lying on the borders of France) by out King Richard the First, both of which are still in great veneration.

4. So as well for the Laws by which he

governs the Maritim concerns, as for his great Jurisdiction, being as vast as the Ocean, he may be said to have alterum Imperium, extra & intra Imperium, and therefore this Honour and Care is intrusted to the hands of some one of the Blood Roy∣al, or some one or more joyntly of the most eminent of the Nobility.

5. And in respect of this Power there is a constant Converse and Commerce with all parts of the World, especially where the Civil Laws are practis'd, and therefore it hath been the prudence of our former Kings (even to this day) to allot him a place in the Lords House, as to the Mar∣shal of England, (for both of their con∣cerns are chiefly manag'd (as I have shewn) by the Civil Laws) so as the Lord Marshal and Lord Admiral may be look'd on as the two Supporters to the learned Professors of those Laws, as the o∣ther Lords are to the Professors of the Com∣mon Laws, and possibly the greatest number of the Masters of Chancery (of whom I shall speak in order) (who sit in the Lords House) were originally contrived to be Doctors of the Civil Laws, upon this ground, That if there were at any time just occasion in that House to make use of any points in that Profession, they might give their advices or opinions therein.

6. This Dignity, as I said, was ever con∣ferr'd upon some of the chief Nobility, by vertue whereof they had their Writs of Summons, and their Place in the Lords House, and this long before the Act of Precedency, for we find the Earl of Arun∣del, in 13 Edw. 3. and the Earl of Nor∣thumberland, in 7 R. 2. the Earl of Devon, and Marquess of Dorset in the same Kings time, and so the Earls of Salisbury, Shrews∣bury, Worcester, and Wiltshire, and others of the like Degrees recited in the Clause Rolls, (needless to renumerate) being Admirals were summon'd, and in our ex∣tant Pawns, in 36 H. 8. Johanni Dudley, Vicecomiti Lisle, Magno Admirallo, and in 1 E. 6. Tho. Dom. Seymer, Magno Admirallo, and in 7 Edw. 6. Edv. Fenys, Domino Clinton, Magno Admirallo, and in 1, 2, 3, 4, Mariae, & Phil. & Mar. Gulielmo Howard de Effing∣ham, Magno Admirallo, and in 4 & 5 Phil. & Mar. Edw. Fenys (again) and Charles, Earl of Nottingham, in Queen Elizabeth's time, and George, Duke of Buckingham, in King James's time and King Charles the First's time, were still summon'd to Par∣liament with the Title of Admiral added to their hereditary Titles in their Writs, and to this Parliament, Jacobo, Duci Ebor. Magno Admirallo, &c. And all these had their places in the Lords House according

to the Act of Precedency, as those before the Act was made.

This Office was conferr'd on the Duke of York for this Parliament. Vid. Cap. 2.