Instance conrt

In English law

That division or department of the court of admiralty which exercises all the ordinary admiralty jurisdiction, with the single exception of prize cases, the latter belonging to the branch called the "Prize Court." The term is sometimes used in American law for purposes of explanation, but has no proper application to admiralty courts in the United States, where the powers of both instance and prize couris are conferred without any distinction.

3 Kent, Comm. 355, 378; The Betsey, 3 Dall. 6, 1 I Ed. 485; The Emulous, 1 Gall. 563, Fed. Cas. No. 4,479.