Dr Marsden tells us that the English High Court of Admiralty can be traced with “tolerable certainty” to the period between the years 1340 and 1357 following victory at the Battle of Sluys in 1340. See Reginald Marsden, Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty (1390–1602) (Selden Society, London, 1894, p. xiv). This account may be somewhat questionable; he dismisses, for example, without giving any reasons for doing so, a submission on jurisdiction by Serjeant Mutford in a case in 1297 (Robert de Benso v William Crake) that “there is assigned on behalf of the King upon the sea an Admirall to hear and determine matters done upon the sea” to which Bereford J replies: “of the Admirals of whom you speak we know nothing”. So the exact origins of admiralty in England are in some doubt.

Not so in Ireland according to Dr Costello in his book The Court of Admiralty of Ireland, 1575–1893 who is clear (p. 1) that the modern cycle of admiralty judicature in Ireland began in August 1575 when the Lord Admiral of England, Edward Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, appointed an English civil lawyer, Dr Ambrose Forth, to attend to “civil and maritime disputes and business” in Ireland. He points out, however, that there already was a vice-admiral of Ireland – Gerald Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare – who had occupied that office since 1564. It is possible to go back even further, though, because as Marsden points out, there was in the 1300s or 1400s an Admiral in England who took charge of affairs in the west including Ireland.

Chapter 1 of Dr Costello's book deals with the establishment of the Admiralty Court from 1575–1660. He tells us (p. 11) that from its foundation in 1575 until 1783 the Irish court was the “constitutional subordinate” of the English High Court of Admiralty. This is evident particularly from the English court hearing appeals from Ireland. There were, after a time, several admiralty courts: the Admiralty Court of Leinster; a Parliamentary admiralty court operating in Kinsale from 1645; and a Confederate Admiralty Court operating between 1642 and 1649 out of Galway, Wexford and Waterford. There was also the Court of Admiralty of Munster from 1608–1643.

In chapter 2 we learn (p. 48) that in 1670 the duke of York petitioned his brother, Charles II, “about setting of a court of admiralty for the whole Kingdom of Ireland”. Thereafter such a court was established with William Glascock being appointed judge of the court in August of that year. The remainder of the chapter is devoted to the workings of the court during the later Stuart period 1660–1710. This was a period in which the English Admiralty Court was routinely subjected to prohibitions issued by the common law courts. Sir William Petty, judge of the Irish court, complained in 1679 similarly (p. 99) that: “The other courts begin to wax wanton in sending prohibitions to ours.”

Chapter 3 of Dr Costello's book deals with the period 1708–1756. We are told (p. 110) that for the first four decades of the eighteenth century the Irish Court operated relatively unobtrusively “surviving on a diet of a tiny quantity of instance work, and presided over by the inactive, aged Dr John Hawkshaw.” He had replaced Dr King as judge of the court and his replacement, in turn, was Dr Hugh Baillie. By this time St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin had become the established place of business of the Irish court. But like the English court, the Irish court was merely a court of limited jurisdiction subject to the limitations which had been propounded by the English Court of King's Bench in the late sixteenth century, with its activities subject to the continuing supervision of the Irish Court of King's Bench by prohibition.

In chapter 4, Dr Costello deals with the history of the court from 1756–1830. Dr Baillie was succeeded by the barrister (and MP for Dingle) Robert FitzGerald who, to begin with, did not have the expected qualification of LLD. FitzGerald increasingly came to rely on John Hatch to act as his surrogate and in 1776 he retired. A later judge of the court was Sir Jonah Barrington who took up office in 1797 who, by his own admission, Dr Costello tells us (p. 157), “was neither a doctor of law nor an advocate” when appointed. Barrington's time in office was scandalous. While living, apparently, in “great splendour and affluence” (p. 165), he continued to receive, while others did his work, an annual salary of £1000 and spent most of his time in Paris where he considered the name and prestige of his office gave him great weight there in social circles. He was subsequently dismissed from office and was charged with corruption over the misappropriation of suitors' funds lodged in the registry. He died in 1834 at Versailles.

The court was constituted as an Irish court by the Court of Admiralty (Ireland) Act 1783 – no longer subject to the English Court's supervisory and concurrent jurisdiction. Section 3 of that Act abolished the right of the English Court to hear appeals. Instead there was a right of appeal to a local court of delegates appointed by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

However, the corruption of the Barrington era resulted in the court being regarded as so disreputable, writes Dr Costello in chapter 5 of his book, that its very existence was threatened. In this chapter he deals with the period from 1830 to 1893. On two separate occasions, in 1837 and 1867, senior officers of the court were found to have behaved deplorably. The first involved the fraudulent conversion of suitors' funds by the registrar while the second involved the judge of the court, Thomas Kelly, in embarrassing probate litigation which resulted in his dismissal. Earlier in 1863 a high-powered Royal Commission was established to investigate the state of the Court of Admiralty in Ireland. This was followed in 1877 by enactment of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) Act 1877. This provided for the abolition of the court upon the death or resignation of the existing admiralty judge, John Townsend. His death, on 2 February 1893, then triggered the fusion of the Admiralty Court into the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland. And so, on that date, the court came to an abrupt and sudden end.

Dr Costello in his book provides us with a most readable account of the history of a court which, strictly, existed only about 300 years. The English Admiralty Court may have existed more than twice as long. Dr Costello's account is well written, well structured and very well researched. It brings to life many of the colourful characters of that court over the period of its existence. Above all, it is a tale told well by an obvious scholar in the area. The discussion is lively and never heavy going. Admiralty lawyers, and non-admiralty lawyers alike, will both find it a most interesting read.