In earliest times the Lord High Admiral of England and the Warden of the Cinque Ports were the highest appellate authorities in prize cases in their respective jurisdictions. Later, appeal apparently lay to the king in chancery but by 1534[33] the custom was established of appointing a special commission of appeals. This commission was appointed by the crown and consisted generally of members of the privy council. This condition prevailed until 1833[34] when the "delegates of appeals" was abolished and it was provided that all admiralty appeals whether instance or prize, should lie to the judicial committee of the privy council. By act of 1832[35] it had been provided that appeals from all vice admiralty courts lie to the same body. The naval prize act of 1864[36] likewise provided for appeal to the queen in council. After the incorporation of the high court of admiralty with the High Court of Justice in 1873 it was provided in the appellate jurisdiction act of 1876[37] that in its instance jurisdiction appeal lie, as in the other courts, to the High Court of Appeal and then to the House of Lords. Appeal in prize cases however was allowed to remain to the privy council as prescribed by the act of 1864.[38] At present, therefore, appeal from all prize courts of Great Britain lie ultimately to the judicial committee of the privy council. In the Hague Conference of 1907 a convention[39] providing for an international prize court composed of fifteen judges selected from the leading countries to act as a court of final appeal in prize cases for all nations was adopted. In 1909 the declaration of London[40] signed by the leading maritime nations provided definite rules for many unsettled points of maritime law. Shortly after the meeting of this conference, autumn of 1910, a bill was proposed in the House of Commons to reorganize the English prize procedure so as to allow for appeal to the international court. The bill was defeated.[41] The international prize court has not as yet been organized. At present there is no provision in English law which would permit of appeal to it in case it came into being. Although her delegates signed the Convention at the Hague, England has never officially ratified it and it is difficult to say whether in case of a war Great Britain would feel bound by this convention. _NOTES._ Chapter V, Part 1. [1] For history and discussion of admiralty and prize courts see Marsdon, Introduction to select pleas of the Admiralty; Roscoe, Growth of English Law; Carter, History of English Legal Institutions; Ridges, Constitutional Laws of England; Benedict, The American Admiralty; Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition, titles, Admiral, Lord High; Admiralty, Jurisdiction. [2] The local jurisdiction of all sea port corporations but the Cinque Ports was abolished in 1835, 5 and 6 William IV, c 76. [3] W. G. F. Phillimore, Admiralty, High Court of, Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition, i, 206.