兩術(shù)語均指與海洋相關(guān)事項的法院。區(qū)別在于admiralty court主要是對有關(guān)海事的合同、侵權(quán)、傷害和犯罪行使管轄權(quán)的法院，故其為“海事法院”，

也稱為admiralty或maritime court[1]。值得注意的是在英國，盡管admiralty有“海軍部”或 “與海軍相關(guān)”的含義[2],但admiralty court卻決非是

“海軍法院”或“海軍軍事法庭”[3]，而是地道的“海事法院”，盡管在 1340年初建時，“最初看起來設(shè)置這些法庭的目的是預(yù)防和懲罰 海盜行為”，

并“是海軍大臣助理主審的法院”w。事實上， “海軍軍事法院或法庭”應(yīng)該是naval martial-court,其是實施管 轄海軍的法律規(guī)則（naval law)的法院（庭）[5]。

相比之下，術(shù)語naval court中盡管也有naval —詞，但其卻應(yīng)是“海事事故法庭”（與軍事法庭無關(guān)，至于naval一詞，大概與先前英國的船舶管理均屬于準軍事化

規(guī)定有關(guān)），此種法庭由國外停泊的船舶 的船長或使館官員組成，專門負責(zé)處理船主或貨主（owner of ship or cargo)提出的緊急調(diào)查申訴或船舶被遺棄、沉沒、滅失 等意外事故案件[6]。

 

[1] "A court that exercises jurisdiction over all maritime contracts，torts，injuries，or offenses.” Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black’s Law Dictionary, 7 th edition, at p. 47, West Group (1999).

[2] "Brit. the executive department or officers having jurisdiction over naval affairs generally" ; “ Of or belonging to British naval affaire or officials. B Cf. Philip Babcock Grove, Ph. D. , Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Una?bridged ,at p. 28, G & C Merriam Co. (1976).

[3] "參見《英漢法律詞典》編寫組編：《英漢法律詞典》，法律出版社1985年 版，第29頁。

[4] "[英]參見戴維M.沃克編：《牛津法律大辭典》，光明曰報出版社1989年 版，第22頁。

[5] "Id. at p. 632.

[6] "Id. at p. 632. “Naval court：any officer who commands a ship belonging to Her Majesty on any foreign station or any consular officer may hold such a court when a complaint which requires immediate investigation arises，when the owner*s interest in any Canadian ship or cargo seems to require it or when a Canadian ship is abandoned, wrecked or lost. " Cf. R. M. Fernandes & C. Burke, The Annotated Canada Shipping Act, at p. 213, Toronto, But- terwoiths (1988).