I.  Europa.  621  35.  Großbritannien  und  Irland.

left.  Otherwise  flects  and  men  were  collected  as  need  called  for  them.  Henry  VII’  may  be  said
to  have  laid  the  Foundation  to  the  Navy  with  the  ship  “Royal  Harry’’.  Henry  VIII’  increased
the  navy  and  established  the  Admiralty  Office  in  1512  which  was  administered  by  Commissioners.
The  Navy  became  a  permanent  force  under  the  Tudors.  In  the  reign  of  Charles  I  the  office  of
Lord  High  Admiral  was  for  the  first  time  put  into  commission.  The  sailors  who  manned  the  fleet
were  governed  by  regulations  made  by  the  admiral  in  command,  enforced  by  the  captains,  and
neither  seen  nor  approved  by  Parliament.

It  was  the  Long  Parliament  (1640—1660)  that  made  the  first  attempt  to  organize  the  discipline
  of  the  navy.  By  an  act  (13  Car.  II,  c.  9)  passed  in  1661  the  Lord  High  Admiral  received
power  to  establish  Courts-martial  but  limiting  their  jurisdietion  to  offences  on  the  high  seas,  or
in  great  rivers  below  bridges,  committed  by  persons  in  service  in  the  fleet.  “Theo  law  which  now
governs  the  navy  is  the  Naval  Discipline  Act  of  1866’.  Part  I  of  this  Act  is  described  as  consisting
of  articles  of  war;  a  sailor  therefore,  like  a  soldier,  may  be  regarded  as  a  person  subject  to
military  law’’*.  Soldier  and  sailor  alike  are  subject  to  the  ordinary  law  of  the  land;  the  only
exception  being  in  those  cases  expressly  stipulated  in  the  Army  Act  and  the  Naval  Discipline  Act,
‘but  the  soldier  cannot  be  arrested  or  compelled  to  appear  before  a  court  on  account  of  any  debt,
damages,  or  sum  of  money  under  £  30’?.

The  Admiralty  Board  (v.  ut  sup,)  was  establislied  as  a  single  board  in  1832  (6b  and  6  Will  IV,
c.  35).  It  was  re-modelled  in  1904.  The  First  Lord  is  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  thus  in  a  way
he  has  the  other  members  at  his  mercy*.  The  Board  must  meet  at  least  once  a  week.  Thouglı
the  Parliamentary  Secretary  holds  a  high  position  in  the  Ministry  he  has  no  seat  in  the  Cabinet.
He  represents  the  Department  in  the  Commons.

Diplomatio  and  Consular  Service.

Ambassadors  and  envoys  plenipotentiary  receive  their  powers  under  the  Great  Seal  of
England,  and  letters  of  credence,  bearing  the  sign-manual  of  the  Sovereign.  A  Charg6  d’affaires
only  receives  &amp;  letter  of  credence,  which  is  signed  by  tlıe  Secretary  of  State.

According  to  the  Act  of  Anne  c.  12,  no  writs  may  be  served  on,  or  carried  on  against  the
person  of  any  ambassador  or  other  public  minister  of  any  foreign  prince  or  state  authorized  and
received  as  such  by  the  sovereign  of  Great  Britain,  nor  may  he  be  arrested  or  imprisoned  or  his
good  or  chattels  be  distrained,  seized  or  attached.  Nor  may  his  domestic  servants  according
to  the  Act  be  arrested  or  imprisoned,  But  they  are  held  liable  to  criminal  law  to-day.  There
seem  to  be  doubts  whether  the  ambassador  or  his  servants  can  be  arrested  in  the  house  of  the
diplomatic  agent,  this  having  territorial  immunities..  But,  writes  Anson®,  “when  the  offence
has  been  committed  by  a  subject  of  the  country  to  which  the  agent  is  accredited,  it  is  obviously
right  that  the  law  should  take  its  course.  In  short,  the  house  of  a  foreign  minister  does  not
appear  to  be,  like  a  public  ship  in  a  foreign  harbour,  extraterritorial,  but  merely  exempt  from
jurisdiction  so  far  as  is  necessary  to  support  the  dignity  of  the  minister  and  to  enable  him  properly
  to  discharge  his  duties.”

The  sovereign  has  the  sole  power  of  sending  ambassadors  to  foreign  states  and  receiving
ambassadors  at  home*®.

British  consuls  do  not  represent  the  state  in  its  external  relations  to  other  states;  in
special  cases  they  are  however  sometimes  vested  with  diplomatio  duties.  They  are  chiefly
employed  to  look  after  the  interests  of  British  subjects  during  their  stay  abroad.  They  have

ı  29  and  30  Vict.  c.  109.

®  Anson:  “Lawsand  Customs”,  vol.  II,  Part.  II,  p.  185.  Vide  also  Thring:  “Criminal
Law  of  the  Navy’;  „Manual  of  Military  Law’’,  and  Simmons  on  Courts-Martial.

8  «Manual  of  Military  Law”,  p.  287.

*  Vide:  Report  of  Select  Committee  of  the  Commons  on  the  Board  of  Admiralty  (1861)
cf.  also  Thring’s  “Criminal  Law  of  the  Navy”,  and  Rt.  Hon.H,O.  Arnold-Forster:
“The  War  Office,  the  Army  and  the  Empire”,  Lond.  1900;  “The  Army  in  1906”.  Lond.  1906.

s  “Law  and  Custom  of  the  Constitution”:  Vol.  II,  Part.  II,  p.  101.

°  Vide  Stephen’s  Commentaries,  vol.  II,  484,  485;  IV,  219.