Editing Trinity House (section)

==Nautical assessors==
In legal cases involving issues of [[navigation]] or [[seamanship]] ''eg.'' collisions at sea, Elder Brethren of Trinity House act as [[Expert witnesses in English law|expert nautical advisors]] to the [[Admiralty court#England and Wales|Admiralty Court]] in [[London]].  Usually, two Elder Brethren sit with the [[Judge of the High Court of Admiralty|Admiralty judge]].  Their function is not to decide the case themselves, but to advise the presiding judge about the practicalities of seamanship and ship handling.  When this happens, the parties are not allowed to produce expert witnesses of their own without a special reason, since the court considers itself to be well enough advised already.  But if one of the colliding ships was a Trinity House vessel, Elder Brethren cannot be employed.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dickey|first=Anthony|title=The Province and Function of Assessors in English Courts|journal=The Modern Law Review|year=1970|volume=33|issue=5|pages=494–507|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2230.1970.tb01293.x|jstor=1093912}}</ref> Elder Brethren may perform the same functions in appeals.<ref>In ''Evergreen Marine (UK) Ltd v. Nautical Challenge Ltd'' [2021] UKSC 6 three sets of Elder Brethren successively advised the Admiralty Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.</ref>

In a 2020 case<ref>''Owners Of The Vessel Sakizaya Kalon v. Owners Of The Vessel Panamax Alexander'' [2020] EWHC 2604 (Admlty).</ref> about a multiple ship collision in the [[Suez Canal]] the Admiralty judge wrote a 306-paragraph judgment ending thus:

{{Blockquote|I am grateful to Trinity House and its Elder Brethren for the expert and wholly independent advice they give to the Admiralty Court (and have given for over four centuries) on questions of seamanship and ship handling. Trinity House, since its incorporation in 1514, has been dedicated to the safety of navigation and the advice given by the Elder Brethren enables the Admiralty Court to ensure that its decisions reflect and uphold the standards and requirements of good seamanship... [O]ne of the functions of the Admiralty Court is to help to avoid collisions in the future, [and] Trinity House has an essential role in ensuring that that function of the Admiralty Court is discharged.}}