tion extended this jurisdiction to all eases of maritime law. The latter view has prevailed, and to-day the Federal courts of admiralty have cognizance of all maritime cases arising, not only on the high seas and great lakes, but on almost all navigable rivers and canals within the United States. While the United States have no court whose duties and jurisdiction are con- fined to admiralty cases, the district courts possess exclusive original jurisdiction over all admiralty and maritime cases. From their final decisions appeals may be taken to the Circuit Court of Appeals and to the Supreme Court. The Federal courts sitting in ad-..iiralty have criminal as well as civil jurisdiction: but their practice in criminal cases is similar to that of common law courts, including trial by jury. The State courts of this country have no admiralty jurisdiction. Consult: Benedict, The American Admiralty, Its Jurisdiction and Prac- tice (Albany, 1900) : and Roscoe, Treatise on the Jurisdiction and Practice of the Admiralty Divi- sion of the High Court of Justice (London, 1882).
ADMIRALTY SOUND. A southern extension of the Strait of Jlagellan near its middle part, penetrating Tierra del Fuego to a distance of nearlv 100 'miles. Its mouth is partially blocked by Dawson Island. In the last 50 miles
of its extent its width varies from 5 to 10 miles.
The coast land is elevated.
ADMIS'SION. In the law of evidence, a
confession or acknowledgment of a party to an
action, made at any time, as to the existence of
a fact. They are admissible in evidence against
him at the trial of the action, but never in his
favor in any case when the existence of the fact
is relevant to the issue at the trial. The com-
petency of this class of evidence constitutes a
well settled exception to the so-called "hearsay
evidence" rule, that statements not made under
cath and not subjected to the test of cross-exam-
ination at the trial shall not be permitted to be
given in evidence. While admissions admissible
in evidence are most frequeiitly made by a party
to the action, they may be made by one acting
by his authority or by one identical in interest
with him. Thus, admissions made by an agent,
or servant, or by the husband or wife of a party,
will be received in evidence against him if actu-
ally or impliedly authorized by him. Admissions
made by one claiming under the same title or
interest as the party are also admissible in evi-
dence against him. For example, admissions
made by a deceased person during his lifetime
are admissible against his executor or admin-
istrator, and admissions made by the owner of
real estate with reference to his title are com-
petent evidence against his grantee, when the
grantee is a party to an action in which his
title is in issue. In England the doctrine of
admissions made with reference to title to real
property has been extended to apply to cases
of admissions made with reference to title of
personal property and negotiable paper indorsed
before due: but in the United States the ten-
dency has been to limit the application of the
rule to admissions made with reference to real
property.
In criminal law admissions of guilt by one accused of a crime are technically known as confessions. At common law confessions were held not to be competent evidence against the prisoner when obtained by threats or promise of favor, and modern statutes have generally still further limited the admissibility of confes- sions in evidence.
Admission should be distinguished from ad- mission against interest, a term which embraces a distinct class of evidence. Admissions against interest are %ritten statements or book entries made by one against his financial or proprietary interest, and are admissible in evidence in any action in which the truth of the matter stated in the admissions is in issue, provided the person making the admission be dead at the time it is offered in evidence. The person making the statement need not represent or be in privity with a party to the action or have acted by his authority. See the works referred to under the title Evidence.
AD'MONI'TIONISTS. A name applied to the partisans of An Admonition to the Parliament, published in 1572 by two Puritan clergymen, and of the Second Admonition to the Parliament, in which Thomas Cartwright (q.v.),
the leader of the sect, likewise advocated the
Presbyterian system of church government and the abolition of bishops and similar dignitaries.
ADOBE, a-do'ba (Spanish). A Spanish-
American name applied to sun-dried bricks made
from any suitable material which becomes hard-
ened on exposure to the sun. Such bricks, em-
ployed largely in the arid and semi-arid districts
of North America, are usually made in two sizes,
the approximate dimensions of which are 18 by 9
by 4 inches, and 16 by 12 by 4 inches. Those of
the latter size when laid alone are used as
"headers," i.e., with the greatest dimension cross-
wise to the length of the wall, though a much
stronger wall results from a combination of the
larger size as headers, with the smaller as
"stretchers," or lengthwise to the direction of the
wall. The process of baking consists in first ex-
posing the newly molded adobes to the direct
rays of the sun for a day, then turning them
for exposure of the under face and continuing
the exposure for from seven to fourteen days,
eventually stacking the finished product under
cover till required for use. Because of the lack
of coherency of such sun-baked bricks, adobes
can be employed only in regions of limited rain-
fall. Many of the bricks made in ancient Egypt,
Assyria, and Babylonia were made of clay mixed
with straw and baked in the sun.
Adobe Soil. A term applied to certain clay soils in the southwestern i)ortions of tlie ITnited States, which, when moist, are of exceeding plas- ticity, and when dry are of such coherency as to prohibit easy tillage. These soils may be rendered tillable and very fertile by plowing into the moist clay considerable quantities of sand loam. See Clay and Brick.
ADOLF, King of Germany. See Adolphus.
ADOLF, a'dolf, I. (?1220). Archbishop of Cologne from 1104 to 1205. He aimed at the aggrandizement of feudalism at the expense of the royal prerogative, and endeavored to frustrate the plan of the Emperor, Henry VI., to make the royal succession hereditary. He was
one of the foremost opponents of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, and despite his oath of fealty to Frederick II., and in defiance of the will of the majority, he nominated Otto IV. of Brunswick, and crowned him at Aix-la-Chapelle, June
