This scholarly work offers a detailed examination of the admiralty jurisdiction in America. From the earliest colonies to the present day, Theodore M. Etting traces the history, development, and application of this crucial legal concept. With a thorough analysis of case law, statutes, and legal philosophy, this book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the maritime history of the United States. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Benedict, Erastus C. The American Admiralty: Its Jurisdiction and Practice with Practical Forms and Directions. New York: Banks, Gould & Co., 1850. xiii, 651 pp. Reprinted 2010 by the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 9781616190194. Paperback. New. $35. * Reprint of the first edition. At the time of its publication there were other popular treatises on the subject in use by American lawyers, but the particularly American viewpoint and practicality of Benedict's treatise enabled it to surpass the others. Now in its seventh edition, it is still the premier work on the subject. In addition to covering American maritime law and practice in the courts, Benedict includes comprehensive discussions of trial by jury, the ancient jurisdiction of the English admiralty, the strife between the Common Law Courts and the Admiralty in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English admiralty at the time of the American Revolution; and the admiralty jurisdiction of the state courts of admiralty, the British colonies, Scotland and Ireland, France and other portions of Continental Europe. An appendix contains rules for the United States Supreme Court, the United States District and Circuit Courts and fee schedules, statutes and forms. Benedict [1800-1880], a noted lawyer and educator, was considered "one of the foremost admiralty lawyers of his day." Dictionary of American Biography I: 177.

The maritime law of the United States is harmonious in broad outline with the laws of other maritime nations, but it has a unique structure--tied to the U.S. Constitution and the Judiciary Act of 1789--entailing a special set of intellectual challenges. Admiralty and Maritime Law in the United States is a leading casebook that reveals the areas of international harmony and explores U.S. law's special features. Each of the authors is an admiralty expert, but the book strives for a generalist's perspective. It aims to tie the admiralty field into the students' other studies while providing the fundamental professional tools necessary to the advanced study or practice of U.S. maritime law. Instructors new to admiralty found the first edition of Admiralty and Maritime Law to be an orderly and user-friendly introduction to the field. Experienced admiralty professors found the book to be well organized and thorough. In the second edition, the authors have drawn on these reports and their own teaching experiences. The book's basic organization and approach have been retained, but much of the second edition is brand-new. Older cases have yielded to leading new ones, new textual material has been added, and older textual material has been deleted or streamlined. Many of the cases that carried over from the first edition have been edited into shorter versions. The second edition incorporates the body of admiralty statutes that came into effect in October 2006 and the reformulated ("plain English") Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that took effect in December 2007. It includes the Supreme Court's dramatic new decisions in Stewart v. Dutra Construction Co., Norfolk Southern Railway v. Kirby, Norfolk Southern Railway v. Sorrell, and even--in a stop-the-press one-page summary--the June 2008 Exxon Valdez punitive damages case. When asked to identify the best new feature of the second edition, the authors respond: "There are 70 fewer pages of text." In three semester hours, one can teach all of it. For shorter or more ruminatively paced courses, the Teacher's Manual provides suggestions on what to omit. A 2012 Teacher's Manual is available as of July 2012; there is also a 2013-14 Supplement.