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Summary of History of Maritime Law or Law of Admiralty

Maritime law has its origins in ancient times with the early civilizations that traded in the Mediterranean Sea. It developed further in medieval Europe as sea codes and practices were established in important port cities. Today, maritime law is a complex area that blends traditional principles with modern developments, addressing both commercial shipping and recreational boating while also regulating environmental issues arising from maritime activities and accidents. It remains an important international body of law governing relationships and disputes in ocean transportation.

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Maria Camila Bustamante Pino
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187 views3 pages

Summary of History of Maritime Law or Law of Admiralty

Maritime law has its origins in ancient times with the early civilizations that traded in the Mediterranean Sea. It developed further in medieval Europe as sea codes and practices were established in important port cities. Today, maritime law is a complex area that blends traditional principles with modern developments, addressing both commercial shipping and recreational boating while also regulating environmental issues arising from maritime activities and accidents. It remains an important international body of law governing relationships and disputes in ocean transportation.

Uploaded by

Maria Camila Bustamante Pino
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Summary of the History of Maritime Law or Law of Admiralty

The law of admiralty is a complex area of law that goes back to antiquity. It is a
classic discipline and, it is said, the only true body of international law, a lingua
franca through which people of different nations can come together to deal with the
promise, profits and perils of voyages at sea.

It also includes, however, some recent developments born out of the economic and
environmental challenges of the late twentieth century. In addition to traditional
commercial topics, admiralty can be said to include the laws which regulate the ever
increasing recreational boating activities such as cruising, fishing and racing.

Once an elitist sport and lifestyle, yachting has become so widespread as to require
government regulation in all its forms.

This article is not meant to provide a comprehensive description of maritime law.


Rather, it is a general overview of the subject which attempts to address both
traditional commercial areas, such as carriage of goods, general average and
maritime liens, as well as topics of interest to the yachtsman and recreational boater.

We will have reached our goal if this brief discussion can trigger a spark of interest
and introduce the reader to this intriguing and fascinating discipline.

Admiralty, or maritime law, consists of the rules and principles- derived from
custom, judicial decisions, legislative enactments and international treaties that
govern the legal relationships arising from the transportation of passengers and
cargoes on the high seas and other navigable waters.

Appropriate tribunals apply maritime law in matters involving maritime contracts,


maritime torts and other maritime offenses.

The principal parties affected by the law of admiralty are the crew, the shipowner,
the cargo owner, the charterer and the marine insurer.

Among matters which fall within the admiralty jurisdiction are suits arising from
collisions at sea, salvage claims and, increasingly, from marine pollution. Certain
recreational boating activities may fall within admiralty jurisdiction if certain criteria
are met.

The bulk of maritime law, however, secreted in the interstices of business practice,
mostly exists to deal with legal problems arising within the sea transport industry.
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Admiralty is an ancient legal system deriving from the customs of the early
Egyptians, Phoenicians and Greeks who carried an extensive commerce in the
Mediterranean Sea. The earliest maritime code is credited t to the island of Rhodes
which is said to have influenced Roman law.

Special tribunals were set up in Mediterranean port towns to judge disputes arising
among seafarers. This activity eventually led to the recording of individual
judgments and the codification of customary rules by which courts became bound.

Among the Mediterranean sea-codes were the Tablets of Amalfi and the Libro del
Consolat de Mar of Barcelona. These codes enjoyed authority far beyond the ports
were they were promulgated.

In essence, until the rise of modern nations, maritime law did not derive its force
from territorial sovereigns but represented what was already conceived to be the
customary law of the sea.

Eventually, as commerce from the Mediterranean moved northward and westward,


sea codes developed in northern European ports.

Among the important medieval sea codes were the Laws of Wisby (a Baltic port),
the Laws of Hansa Towns (a Germanic league), and the Laws of Oleron (a French
island).

These codes have been called the three arches upon which rests modern admiralty
structure.

In England, admiralty courts were already functioning in the 14th century. Initially,
the courts of the lord high admiral dealt primarily with cases of piracy and naval
discipline but gradually these tribunals extended their jurisdiction to commercial
matters.

In the 1600's vice-admiralty courts were established in the principal seaports of the
American colonies. The U.S. Constitution extended federal judicial power to all
cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 gave the federal district courts exclusive jurisdiction in
admiralty and made the Supreme Court the ultimate arbiter of admiralty disputes
although a "saving" clause permitted state courts to hear some maritime actions.
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Contemporary maritime law is a mixture of ancient doctrines and new laws both
national and international.

Among the traditional principles of admiralty still in use are marine insurance,
general average and salvage. The welfare of the seaman is also still in use today.

The reason for the continuation in the use of ancient principles of law is that the
basic hazards of seafaring have not changed. In the last decades, however, naval
architecture and cargo handling have changed in significant ways.

The extensive use of crude oil carriers as well as carriers of liquefied natural gas has
posed new hazards and questions of liability for oil pollution and damage to the
marine ecology and the shorelines.

Accidents such as the Amoco Cadiz in 1978 and the Exxon Valdez have gone a long
way towards the creation of a strong ecological awareness and a new body of laws
and court opinions.

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