History of Admiralty Law
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.
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
judgements and the codification of customary rules by which courts became
bound. Among the Mediterranean sea-codes were the Tablets of Amalfi
and the Libre del Consolat de mar of Barcellona. 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.
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, the ancient concept of "maintenance and cure"
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.
