particulars, that they may be satisfied the loss has occurred through circumstances against which the insurance was effected. In ordinary cases the task of ascertaining these facts, and of examining the correctness of the demand made by the assured, rests with the underwriter who has first subscribed the policy. In complicated cases of partial or average losses, the papers are usually referred to some disinterested party, whose business it is to undertake such references, to calculate and adjust the per centage rate of loss. Where the ship is wholly lost, of course little difficulty occurs in this part of the inquiry; but in cases of partial losses, where the insured has not exercised his right of abandonment [ABANDONMENT], very minute and careful examination often becomes necessary. The quantity of damage being ascertained, the amount which each underwriter has made himself liable to by subscribing the policy is settled; and this being done, it is usual for one of the underwriters, or their agent, to indorse on the policy, "adjusted a partial loss on this policy of so much per cent." To this indorsement the signature of each underwriter must be affixed, and this process is called the adjustment of the loss. After an adjustment has been made, it is not usual in mercantile practice for the underwriter to require any further proof, but at once to pay the loss; and it has been said that the reason for which adjustments have been introduced into the business of maritime insurance is, that upon the underwriter signing an adjustment, and thereby declaring his liability, and admitting that the whole transaction is adjusted, time should be given him to pay the money. As a question of law, however, it is undecided how far the adjustment is conclusive and binding upon the underwriters; the better opinion appears to be that the adjustment is merely presumptive evidence against an insurer, and has only the effect of transferring the burden of proof from the assured to the underwriters; that is, where an adjustment has taken place, and the liability to pay the loss is disputed, the adjustment alone, without further proof, will be sufficient to entitle the insured to recover in an action on the policy, unless the under writer shows facts which may have the effect of relieving him from liability. (Selwyn's Nisi Prius, title "Insurance;" Park, on the Law of Marine Insurance, and a note to Campbell's Nisi Prius Reports, vol. i. p. 276.) ADJUTANT (from the Latin adjutor, an assistant) is a military officer, attached to every battalion of a regiment. The office does not confer a separate rank, but is usually given to one of the subaltern officers. The duties of an adjutant are to superintend (under the major of the regiment, and the adjutant-general of the army) all matters relating to the ordinary routine of discipline in the regiment; to receive and promulgate to the battalion all general, garrison, and regimental orders, signing them in the orderly-book on the part of the commanding-officer; to select detachments from the different companies when ordered; to regulate the placing of guards, distribution of ammunition, &c. ADJUTANT-GENERAL, a staff-officer, one of those next in rank to the commander-in-chief. He is to the army what the adjutant is to a regiment; he superintends the details of all the dispositions ordered by the commander-in-chief, communicates general orders to the different brigades, and receives and registers the reports of the state of each, as to numbers, discipline, equipments, &c. Though in a large army the adjutant-general is usually a general officer, yet this rank is not necessary; and in smaller detachments acting independently the duties are frequently intrusted to an officer of lower rank. ADMINISTRATION and ADMINISTRATOR. An administrator is a person appointed by the ordinary or bishop of the diocese to make administration of or to distribute the goods of a person who dies without having made a will. It is said that, in very early times, the king was entitled in such a case to seize upon the goods, in order that they might be applied to the burial of the deceased, the payment of his debts, and to making a provision for his family. It would appear that this power of the crown over the effects of intestates was greatly abused, for, by Magna Charta, King John granted that "if a freeman should die intestate, If none of the kindred are willing to take out administration, a creditor is permitted to do so; and in the absence of any person entitled to demand letters of administration, the ordinary may appoint whomsoever he may think proper to collect the goods of the deceased, for the benefit of such as may be entitled to them. Administrators are appointed even when a will has been made, if by the will no executors are appointed, or if the persons named in it refuse, or are not legally qualified to act; and in any of these cases the administrator only differs from an executor in the name of his office and mode of his appointment. In practice, when the executor refuses to act, it is usual to grant administration to the residuary legatee, that is, to the person to whom, by the will, the remainder of the personal property, after payment of debts and legacies, is given. his chattels should be distributed by or to both of them; and, where several the hands of his near relations and persons are equally near of kin, empowers friends, under the inspection of the him to select one of them at his discrechurch." This, probably, formed the tion. foundation upon which the bishops afterwards founded their right to administer by their own hands the goods of an intestate. There is, at least, no doubt that the power of seizing the goods of an intestate was, at a later period, transferred from the crown to the bishops. The whole property was, in the first instance, placed in the custody of the ordinary, or bishop of the diocese in which the intestate died; and after the deduction of what were technically called "partes rationabiles," that is, two-thirds of the whole, which the law gave to the widow and children, the remaining third part vested in the bishop upon trust to distribute that proportion in charity to the poor, or in "pious uses," for the benefit of the soul of the deceased. This trust being greatly abused by the bishops, the statute called the "Statute of Westminster the Second," was passed in the reign of Edward I., which provided that the debts of the deceased should be paid by the ordinary in the same manner as if he had been an executor appointed by a will. The remainder, after payment of debts, still continued applicable to the same uses as before. To prevent the abuses of the power thus retained by the ordinary, and to take the administration out of his hands, the statute of 31 Edward III. cap. 2, directed the ordinary, in case of intestacy, to depute "the nearest and most lawful friends" of the deceased to administer his goods; and these administrators are put upon the same footing with regard to suits and to accounting, as executors appointed by will. This is the origin of administrators; they are merely the officers of the ordinary, appointed by him in pursuance of the statute, which selects the nearest and most lawful friend of the deceased; these words being interpreted to denote the nearest relation by blood who is not under any legal disability. The subsequent statute of 21 Henry VIII. c. 5, enlarges a little more the power of the ordinary, and permits him to grant administration either to the widow or the next of kin, In the case of a complete intestacy, it was formerly doubted whether an administrator, when appointed by virtue of 31 Edward III., could be compelled to make any distribution of the effects of the intestate which remained in his hands after payment of debts; for though the administration had been transferred from the ordinary to the next of kin of the deceased, the new administrator stood in much the same position as the ordinary had. The spiritual courts endeavoured to enforce distribution by taking bonds from the administrator for that purpose, but these bonds were declared void by the common law courts. The "Statute of Distributions," 22 & 23 Charles II. c. 10, which is amended by 29 Car. II. c. 3, enacted that the surplus effects, after payment of debts, shall, after the expiration of one year from the death of intestate, be distributed in the following manner :-one-third shall go to the widow, and the remainder in equal proportions to the children of the intestate, or, if dead, to their legal representatives, that is, their lineal descendants: or, if there be no children, or children's legal representatives, then one moiety shall go to the widow, and the other moiety to the next of kin in equal degree, or to their representatives: if no widow, the whole shall go to the children or their repretatives in equal portions: if neither widow nor children, the whole shall be distributed amongst the next of kin or their representatives. The statute of 29 Charles II. c. 3, confirms the old right of the husband to be the administrator of his wife who dies intestate, and to recover and enjoy her personal property. By the same statute it is directed that no child of the intestate (except it be his heir at law) on whom he settled in his lifetime any estate in lands, or to whom he gave a pecuniary portion equal to the distributive share of the other children, shali have any share of the surplus to be administered; but if the estate or portion thus given him by way of advancement is not equivalent to the other shares, the child so advanced shall have so much of the intestate's personal estate as will put him on an equality with his brothers and sisters. The Statute of Distributions expressly excepts and reserves the customs of the city of London, of the province of York, and of all other places which have peculiar customs of distributing intestates effects. These customs resemble, in some degree, the provisions of the statute, though they differ from them in some respects. The degrees of kindred are reckoned | according to the Roman law in the application of the Statute of Distributions [CONSANGUINITY]; and many of the provisions of the statute as to the mode of distribution resemble those of the Roman law of Justinian's period. (Novel. 118; and Gaius, iii. On the Succession to Intestates' Estates.) For further information upon the subject of Administrator and Administration, see EXECUTORS. ADMIRAL, the title of the highest class of naval officers. Various fanciful etymologies of the word have been given; but the word is said to be merely a corruption of the Arabic Amir or Emir, a lord or chieftain. The al is the Arabic definite article al (the), without the noun to which it belongs. Eutychius, Patri arch of Alexandria, writing in the tenth century, calls the Caliph Omar Amirol Mumenim, which he translates into Latin Imperator Fidelium (the Commander of the Faithful). To form the word Admiral the first two terms of some title similar to this have been adopted, and the third has been dropt. From this it appears that the word ought properly to be written, or rather ought at first to have been written, Amiral, or Ammiral, as we find it in Milton's expression: "The mast Of some great Ammiral." Milton, holding to this principle of orthography, wrote in Latin Ammiralatûs Curia (the Court of Admiralty). The French say Amiral, and the Italians Ammiraglio. The d seems to have got into the English word from a notion that Admiral was an abridgment of Admirable. The Latin writers of the middle ages sometimes, apparently from this conceit, style the commander of a fleet Admirabilis, and also Admiratus. The Spaniards say Admirante or Almirante. Under the Greek empire, the term Emir or Amir (Aunp) was used most commonly to designate the governor of a province or district, which was itself called Aunpadias. Gibbon states that the emir of the fleet was the third in rank of the officers of state presiding over the navy; the first being entitled the Great Duke, and the second the Great Drungaire. (Decline and Fall, ch. liii.) The holy wars of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries seem to have introduced the term Admiral into Europe. The Admiral of Sicily is reckoned among the great officers of state in that kingdom in the twelfth century; and the Genoese had also their admiral very soon after this time. In France and England the title appears to have been unknown till the latter part of the thirteenth century: the year 1284 is commonly assigned as the date of the appointment of the first French admiral; and the Amiral de la Mer du Roy d'Angleterre is first mentioned in records of the year 1297. The person to whom the title is given in this instance is named William de Leybourne. Yet at this time England, although she had an admiral, had, properly speaking, no fleet; the custom being for the king, when he engaged in a naval expedition, to press into his service the merchant-vessels from all ports of the kingdom, just as it is still the prerogative of the crown to seize the men serving on board such vessels. This circumstance is especially deserving of notice, as illustrating what an admiral originally was. The King of England's admiral of the sea was not necessarily the actual commander of the fleet; he was rather the great officer of state, who presided generally over maritime affairs. Sometimes he was not a professional person at all; at other times he was one of the king's sons, or other near kinsman yet in his nonage, on whom the office was bestowed, as being one of great dignity and emolument: the duties were performed by persons who acted in his name. But these duties were usually not to command ships in battle, but merely to superintend and direct the naval strength of the kingdom, and to administer justice in all causes arising on the seas. The former of these duties is now executed by the department of government called the Admiralty, and the latter by the legal tribunal called the High Court of Admiralty. Anciently, two or more admirals used often to be appointed to exercise their powers along different parts of the coast. Thus in 1326 mention is made of the Admiral of the King's Fleet, from the mouth of the Thames northward, and of another officer with the same title, commanding from the mouth of the Thames westward. Besides these, there were also Admirals of the Cinque Ports. There are still a vice-admiral and a rearadmiral of the United Kingdom, which places are now sinecures, and are usually bestowed upon naval officers of high standing and eminent services. They are appointed by royal patent, and it is said would exercise the authority of the Lord High Admiral in case of his death, until a successor was appointed. There is also a vice-admiral of the coast of Yorkshire, a nominal office, usually given to a nobleman. It is the opinion of some writers that the first admiral of all England was appointed in the | year 1387. Even the officer bearing this title, however, was not then the person possessing the highest maritime jurisdiction. Above him there was the King's Lieutenant on the Sea (Locum tenens super Mare). Also, before the term Admiral was used at all, there was an officer designated the Custos Maris, or Guardian of the Sea. From the year 1405 (the sixth of Henry IV.) there is an uninterrupted series of Lord High Admirals of England, the office being always held by an individual, till the 20th of November, 1632, when it was for the first time put in commission: all the great officers of state were the commissioners. During the Commonwealth, the affairs of the navy were managed by a Committee of Parliament, till Cromwell took the direction of them himself. On the Restoration, the king's brother, the Duke of York, was appointed Lord High Admiral; and he retained the place till the 22nd of May, 1684, when Charles took it into his own hands. On the duke's accession to the throne, in the beginning of the following year, he declared himself Lord High Admiral. On the Revolution the office was again put in commission; and it continued to be held in this form till 1707, when Prince George of Denmark was appointed Lord High Admiral, with a council of four persons to assist him. On his death, in November, 1708, the Earl of Pembroke was appointed his successor, with a similar council. The earl resigned the office in 1709, since which time, till now, it has always been in commission, with the exception of the period of about sixteen months (from May, 1827, till September, 1828), during which it was held by King William IV., then Duke of Clarence. The commissioners, styled the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, were formerly seven, and are now six in number; and the first Lord is always a member of the cabinet. It is the First Lord, indeed, who principally exercises the powers of the office. The patent constituting the commission is issued by writ of privy seal, in the king's name, and, after mentioning the names of the commissioners, it appoints them to be "our commissioners for executing the office of our High Admiral of our said united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the dominions, islands, and territories thereunto belonging, and of our High Admiral of Jamaica, Barbadoes, Saint Christopher, Nevis, Montserrat, Bermudas, and Antegoa, in America, and of Guiney, Binny, and Angola, in Africa, and of the islands and dominions thereof, and also of all and singular our other foreign plantations, dominions, islands, and territories whatsoever, and places thereunto belonging, during our pleasure; giving, and by these presents granting unto you, our said commissioners, or any two or more of you, during our pleasure, full power and authority to do, execute, exercise, and perform all and every act, matter, and thing which do belong or appertain to the office of our High Admiral," &c., as well in those things which concern the navy as in the things which concern "the right and jurisdiction" of the High Admiral. Till the reign of Queen Anne the salary of the Lord High Admiral was only 300 marks; and the emoluments of the place, which were very large, arose chiefly from perquisites, or droits, as they were called, of various descriptions. Prince George of Denmark resigned all these droits into the hands of the crown, and received in their stead a salary of 7000l. a year. The salary of the First Lord is 4500l., and his official residence is the Admiralty, Whitehall. The salary of the junior lords is 1000l., and they have official residences; or, in case of the government not appropriating to them an official residence, a sum of 2007. is allowed instead. The title of Admiral is also given in modern times to naval officers of the highest rank; of which we have in England three classes, namely, Admirals of the Red, of the White, and of the Blue. Admirals bear their flag at the main topgallant-mast head; vice-admirals, at the fore top-gallant-mast head; and rear-admirals, at the mizen top-gallant-mast head. After the union with Scotland in 1707, the use of the red flag was discontinued, the union-jack being substituted for it; but it was resumed at the naval promotion which took place in 1805, after A full admiral ranks with a general, and an admiral who is actually the commander-in-chief of a fleet with a fieldmarshal. The title of Admiral of the Fleet is merely an honorary distinction. The number of admirals on the 1st of January in each of the following years was as follows:-242 in 1815; 228 in 1819; 236 in 1825; 228 in 1830; 211 in 1837; and 211 in 1841. The average age of officers promoted to the rank of rearadmiral (omitting fractional parts of a year) was forty-seven years in 1815; fiftyone in 1819; fifty-five in 1825; fifty-eight in 1830; sixty-one in 1837; and rather more than sixty-one in 1841. The period which rear-admirals had served as captains had increased from nineteen years in 1815 to nearly thirty-five years in 1841; the increase having been from twentynine years nine months in 1830 to thirtyfour years and nine months in 1841. According to the official Navy List for April, 1844, there were, in addition to the admiral of the fleet, who receives sea-pay of 6l. per day, thirty-six admirals, with the sea-pay of 5l. per day; forty-six viceadmirals, with the pay of 41. per day; and ninety-six rear-admirals, with the pay of 37. per day; making 179 admirals; but the number in commission in time of peace is only about twelve. In addition to this pay, every commander-in-chief receives a further sum of 31. per day while his flag shall be flying within the limits of his station. The full pay of admirals in 1792 was 31. 10s. a day; vice-admirals, 27. 108.; rear-admirals, 1. 15s.: in addition to which, compensation in lieu of servants' allowances was given at the rate of 4301. 3s. a year to admirals; 2801. 58. to viceadmirals; and 2021. to rear-admirals. The number of servants allowed was re |