Courts of Admiralty in Colonial America examines the admiralty law system as it was transmitted from England to America. It is based on extensive manuscript research conducted on both sides of the Atlantic. Though the emphasis is on the Maryland experience, the authors make comparisons with developments in England and in other colonies. The result is an interpretation of an area of law and authority in early America which is relevant to a national history of law.

The format of this book makes it attractive to both the general reader, interested in the bearing of the colonial period on the development of American law in the early years of the Republic, and the specialist, interested in how these courts worked, who used them and with what results. The main text describes how the unique features of the English admiralty appeared, or failed to appear, in colonial America and came to influence federal admiralty law and practice today.

Also included are several valuable appendices: summaries and analyses of nearly 150 cases, never collected before, involving disputes of a maritime nature appearing in the records of Maryland's courts; the transcription of the record of a classic maritime case; and the translation from the Latin of several vice admiralty commissions.