Maritime law
Maritime law or admiralty law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between private parties operating or using ocean-going ships. While each legal jurisdiction usually has its own legislation governing maritime matters, the international nature of the topic and the need for uniformity has, since 1900, led to considerable international maritime law developments, including numerous multilateral treaties.
Admiralty law, which mainly governs the relations of private parties, is distinguished from the law of the sea, a body of public international law regulating maritime relationships between nations, such as navigational rights, mineral rights, and jurisdiction over coastal waters. While admiralty law is adjudicated in national courts, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has been adopted by 167 countries and the European Union, and disputes are resolved at the ITLOS tribunal in Hamburg.
History
Shipping was one of the earliest channels of commerce, and rules for resolving maritime trade disputes were developed early. An ancient example was the Rhodian law, of which no extensive written specimen has survived, but which is alluded to in other legal texts. In southern Italy the Ordinamenta et consuetudo maris at Trani and the Amalfian Laws were in effect from an early date, and later the customs of the Consulate of the Sea and the Hanseatic League.Bracton notes that admiralty law was also used as an alternative to the common law in Norman England, which previously required voluntary submission to it by entering a plea seeking judgment from the court.
A leading sponsor of admiralty law in Europe was the French Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor had learned about admiralty law while on the Second Crusade in the eastern Mediterranean with her first husband, King Louis VII of France. Eleanor then established admiralty law on the island of Oléron, where it was published as the Rolls of Oléron. Some time later, while she was in London as regent for her son, King Richard I of England, Eleanor instituted admiralty law in England as well.
In England and Wales, a special Admiralty Court handles all admiralty cases. Despite early reliance upon civil law concepts derived from the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, the English Admiralty Court is a common law court, albeit sui generis, that was initially somewhat distinct from other English courts. After around 1750, as the Industrial Revolution took hold and English maritime commerce burgeoned, the Admiralty Court became a fertile source of legal innovation to meet the new situations of the modern economy. The Judicature Acts of 1873–1875 abolished the Admiralty Court as such, and it became conflated in the new Probate, Divorce and Admiralty division of the High Court. However, when the PDA was abolished and replaced by a new Family Division, admiralty jurisdiction passed to a so-called Admiralty Court which was effectively the King's Bench sitting to hear nautical cases. The Senior Courts Act 1981 then clarified the admiralty jurisdiction of the Queen's Bench, so England and Wales once again has a distinct Admiralty Court.
English Admiralty courts were prominent in the disputes leading to the American Revolution. For example, the phrase in the Declaration of Independence "For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury" refers to the practice of the UK Parliament giving the Admiralty Courts jurisdiction to enforce the Stamp Act 1765 in the American colonies. The Stamp Act was unpopular in America, so a colonial jury would be unlikely to convict a colonist of its violation. The Admiralty Court, which has never allowed trial by jury, was thus empowered to enforce the statute more effectively.
Admiralty law gradually became part of United States law through admiralty cases arising after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1789. Many American lawyers prominent in the American Revolution were admiralty and maritime lawyers, including Alexander Hamilton in New York and John Adams in Massachusetts.
In 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison proposing that the US Constitution, then under consideration by the States, be amended to include "trial by jury in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land and not by the laws of Nations". The result was the United States Bill of Rights. Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were both admiralty lawyers and Adams represented John Hancock in an admiralty case in colonial Boston involving seizure of one of Hancock's ships for violations of customs regulations. In the more modern era, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was an admiralty lawyer before ascending to the bench.
Features
Matters dealt by admiralty law include marine commerce, marine navigation, salvage, maritime pollution, seafarers' rights, and the carriage by sea of both passengers and goods. Admiralty law also covers land-based commercial activities that are maritime in character, such as marine insurance. Some lawyers prefer to reserve the term "admiralty law" for "wet law", and use "maritime law" only for "dry law".Maintenance and cure
The doctrine of maintenance and cure is rooted in Article VI of the Rolls of Oléron promulgated in about 1160 AD. The obligation to "cure" requires a shipowner to provide medical care free of charge to a seaman injured in the service of the ship, until the seaman has reached "maximum medical cure". The concept of "maximum medical cure" is more extensive than the concept "maximum medical improvement". The obligation to "cure" a seaman includes the obligation to provide him with medications and medical devices which improve his ability to function, even if they do not "improve" his actual condition. They may include long-term treatments that permit him to continue to function well. Common examples include prostheses, wheelchairs, and pain medications.The obligation of "maintenance" requires the shipowner to provide a seaman with his basic living expenses while he is convalescing. Once a seaman is able to work, he is expected to maintain himself. Consequently, a seaman can lose his right to maintenance, while the obligation to provide cure is ongoing.
A seaman who is required to sue a shipowner to recover maintenance and cure may also recover his attorneys fees. Vaughan v. Atkinson, 369 U.S. 527. If a shipowner's breach of the obligation to provide maintenance and cure is willful and wanton, the shipowner may be subject to punitive damages. See Atlantic Sounding Co. v. Townsend, 557 U.S. 404 .
Personal injuries to passengers
Shipowners owe a duty of reasonable care to passengers. Consequently, passengers who are injured aboard ships may bring suit as if they had been injured ashore through the negligence of a third party. The passenger bears the burden of proving that the shipowner was negligent. While personal injury cases must generally be pursued within three years, suits against cruise lines may need to be brought within one year because of limitations contained in the passenger ticket. Notice requirements in the ticket may require a formal notice to be brought within six months of the injury. Most US cruise line passenger tickets also have provisions requiring that suit to be brought in either Miami or Seattle.In England, the 1954 case of Adler v Dickson allowed a shipping line to escape liability when a bosun's negligence resulted in a passenger being injured. Since then, the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 has made it unlawful to exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by one's negligence.
Maritime liens and mortgages
Banks which loan money to purchase ships, vendors who supply ships with necessaries like fuel and stores, seamen who are due wages, and many others have a lien against the ship to guarantee payment. To enforce the lien, the ship must be arrested or seized. In the United States, an action to enforce a lien against a US ship must be brought in federal court and cannot be done in state court, except for under the reverse Erie Doctrine whereby state courts can apply federal law.Salvage and treasure salvage
When property is lost at sea and rescued by another, the rescuer is entitled to claim a salvage award on the salvaged property. This applies only to the saving of property: there is no "life salvage", as all mariners have a duty to save the lives of others in peril without expectation of reward.There are two types of salvage: contract salvage and pure salvage. In contract salvage, the owner of the property and the salvor enter into a salvage contract prior to salvage operations, for an agreed payment. The most common form is a "Lloyd's Open Form Salvage Contract".
In pure salvage, there is no contract between the owner of the goods and the salvor, and the relationship is imputed by law. The salvor must bring his claim for salvage in court, which awards salvage based upon the merit of the service and the value of the salvaged property.
Pure salvage claims are divided into "high-order" and "low-order" salvage. In high-order salvage, the salvor and his crew risk of injury and damage to equipment during salvage operations: for example boarding a sinking ship in heavy weather, boarding a ship on fire, raising a ship which has already sunk, or towing a ship away from the surf near shore. In low-order salvage, the salvor takes little or no personal risk, for example towing a vessel in calm seas, supplying fuel, or pulling a vessel off a sand bar. High-order salvage earns a substantially greater salvage award.
In both high-order and low-order salvage, the amount of the salvage award is based first upon the value of the property saved. If nothing is saved, or if additional damage is done, there will be no award. The other factors to be considered are the skills of the salvor, the peril to which the salvaged property was exposed, the value of the property which was risked in effecting the salvage, the amount of time and money expended, etc.
A pure or merit salvage award will seldom exceed 50 percent of the value of the property saved. The exception is in the case of treasure salvage. Because sunken treasure has generally been lost for hundreds of years, while the original owner continues to have an interest in it, the salvor or finder will generally get the majority of the value of the property. While sunken ships from the Spanish Main are the most famous type of treasure salvage, other types – including German submarines from World War II which can hold valuable historical artifacts, American Civil War ships, and sunken merchant ships – have all been the subject of treasure salvage awards. Due to refinements in side-scanning sonars, many more ships are now being located and treasure salvage is less risky, although it is still highly speculative and expensive.