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.