It is true that this Court has said that " the primary focus of admiralty jurisdiction is unquestionably the protection of maritime commerce,"
32.
In 1829 a United States District Court was established in Key West with admiralty jurisdiction, after which most salvage cases were decided in court.
33.
This case requires the Court to redefine once again the line between federal admiralty jurisdiction and state power due to an ambiguous balancing test.
34.
By the Act of Union 1707 all admiralty jurisdictions were placed under the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain or Commissioners of the Admiralty.
35.
Great Lakes then filed this action, invoking federal admiralty jurisdiction and seeking, inter alia, the protection of the Limitation of Vessel Owner's Liability Act.
36.
The current statute dealing with the Admiralty jurisdiction of the England and Wales High Court is the Supreme Court Act 1981, ss . 20-24, 37.
37.
As noted just above, Congress has already made the judgment, in the Extension Act, that a land-based victim may properly be subject to admiralty jurisdiction.
38.
Although there is a list recognized by the admiralty jurisdiction, the definitions and criteria are not the same under the maritime law of differing jurisdictions.
39.
For better or worse, the case law has thus carved out the approximate shape of admiralty jurisdiction in a way that admiralty lawyers understand reasonably well.
40.
If a successful challenge to a criminal prosecution under admiralty jurisdiction were to be made, the matter would be dismissed before any plea could be entered.
