The English government established these courts in its North American colonies to deal with issues of maritime law, including smuggling. If judges condemned vessels for smuggling, they would share in profits from the sale of such craft and their cargoes. Judges made all rulings without juries and thus could clearly benefit from their own decisions, which caused many colonists to view these courts as centres of despotic imperial power. The Stamp Act of 1765 stated that colonists who did not pay stamp duties could be tried in vice admiralty courts, which became another colonial grievance about the prospect of being convicted and sent to gaol without a jury trial, a violation of fundamental English liberties.