The object of this work, as the title indicates, is to convey the writer's impressions of the development of Admiralty jurisdiction and practice during the last and the present century. The natural vehicle for such study is the Admiralty Court itself, because it is and was so obviously the focal point for change; tracing the history of the Court during the period covered by this work is therefore the most convenient method of observing the development of jurisdiction and practice, and, in the last chapter of the work, a remarkable change in the jurisprudence and substantive Law of Admiralty brought about as a result of alterations in the structure, composition and practice of the Admiralty Court.

It is, however, important to realize at the outset that this work is not precisely a history of the Admiralty Court as an institution; it is to avoid this impression that the work bears a title which emphasizes Admiralty jurisdiction and practice rather than the Court itself. Thus consideration is given not only to jurisdiction and practice, but to procedure, jurisprudence, peripheral influences upon development, and the more important personalities associated with the Court and its practice.