The principal topics of Maritime Law (see articles under separate titles) are: Affreight ment, under which head may be included the law governing contracts of shipmasters to carry freight and their resulting responsibilities as common carriers; Barratry, a sea crime which is committed when a master or crew do any unlawful acts tending to their advantage and to the detriment of the owner of a vessel— mutiny is an extreme form of barratry; Bill of Lading (q.v.; also COMMERCIAL LAw and NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS) ; Bottomry. a form of contract whereby, figuratively, the keel or bottom of a ship, but in reality the entire vessel, is hypothecated to secure the repayment of money loaned, or to pay for repairs done or materials or supplies furnished and neces sary to enable the vessel to complete a voyage; Charter-party, a contract of affreightrnent whereby the owner agrees, not to carry a par ticular consignment, but to let the whole or part of his ship to a merchant or other person for a particular voyage; Collision, under which title the rules for the assessment and apportion ment of damage resulting from careless naviga tion are collected; Demurrage, the money re quired to be paid by the charterer for a vessel in compensation to the owner for her detention beyond the time agreed to for the loading or unloading of a cargo; General Average may be defined as contributions to be made by all parties interested in a ship or her cargo to even up the losses arising in consequence of an extraordinary sacrifice — for example, the jettison of part of her cargo as the means of preserving from destruction the vessel or the rest of the goods she carries; Marine In surance (q.v.) is a comparatively recent develop ment of maritime law ; the first policies it is said were issued by the Florentine merchant princes of the house of Medici; Pilotage, the practice of the pilot's professiion is governed by local usages peculiar to each port and by legislative acts, which, in the United States, may take the form of either Federal .or State laws ; Registry of vessels and the transfer of ownership or flag, practically all matters under this head being regulated by statute in each country; Salvage, a compensation due to a per son through whose gratuitous exertions a ves sel or its cargo had been rescued from the perils of the sea; Wharfingers, properly °wharf agers,'' the owners, occupiers or custodians of a wharf.
All contracts of a maritime character are cognizable by the maritime law and enforcible by the courts administering the same. In the enforcement of contractual obligations arising out of the relations between insurer and insured or shipper and carrier or owner and charter party, the common-law courts as well as the courts of admiralty might take jurisdiction. But in a case of bottomry, collision, general average or salvage, where the common law of the land and the law of the sea widely diverge, the jurisdiction of the maritime tribunals is paramount. Obligations ex delicto are justici able in courts of admiralty when the wrong was committed within their territorial jurisdiction. This jurisdiction extends to the high seas, the national territorial waters where the tide ebbs and flows and other navigable water connects with and leading to tidewater. In the United States admiralty jurisdiction may extend even to navigable waters disconnected from the sea and situated entirely within a single State. The Federal District Courts exclusively have original jurisdiction in admiralty cases. Under the maritime law no more than under the com mon law could there be a recovery of damages for death negligently caused. Such recovery is now permitted by statutory enactment ; but the limitation of owner's liability to the value of the salvage from the wreck in which the death occurred and to the freight money earned makes the statutory relief granted practically valueless. The English law on the subject is more liberal, though, where a calamitous loss occurs and the claimants are many, the total amount of damages recoverable is too small to be compensatory in any proper sense. In fact, it is possible that the limitation by law and distribution by insurance of the risks in cident to maritime commerce may have too thoroughly eliminated the motive of self-interest as a factor in the promotion of efficiency and safety. When a ship is lost its owner may
make a profit, receiving more than its value from the insurer ; similarly, the merchant may, and often does, get more from the underwriter than the value of a cargo lost; the underwriter averages his losses and, on the whole, makes a profit out of his •business. The laws for the inspection of vessels, the licensing of masters and other officers, the rules of navigation and concerning lights and other signals and the statutes prescribing imprisonment and other heavy penalties for neglect to observe these laws and regulations or supply the minimum life-saving equipment do not seem to provide an incentive equal to that which would be provided by the risk of an uninsurable total loss or unlimited liability for carelessness in the operation of vessels. The statutes, moreover, have been proven deficient in many respects for instance, it appeared from the inquiry into a recent celebrated case that the inspection of hulls did not include a test of stability.
The rights and duties of masters and sea men toward each other, the vessel owner, the shipper or receiver of cargo and passengers are in part regulated by usage. By far the larger part of this department of the maritime law however is statutory. The administration of ports, the issue of clearance and other papers and similar police regulations affecting shipping are, generally, in the form of prescriptions made by the highest legislative authority, though they may be the subjects of mere municipal ordinances. These regulations have become In ternationalized by commercial treaties on a basis of reciprocity, foreign shipping at practically all the ports of the world sharing burdens and advantages equally with domestic vessels. Domestic regulations with respect to life-saving equipment also have international scope, because no foreign vessel can leave a port without clearance and ship's papers will not be granted until the local safety rules 'have been complied with. The International Marine Conference held at Washington in 1894 evolved a set of ((Regulations for Preventing Collisions" and the first internationally uniform "Rule of the Road." Articles 15 and 16 of the convention agreed to this conference, prescribing a system of sound signals and speed in fog or thick weather, were considered the most im portant and innovatory of the regulations then adopted; but shipmasters have continued to act on the principle, ((when in a place of danger, get out as quickly as possible." The Seaman's Act of 1914 and the Safety at Sea Conference held in Berlin in the spring of the same year are indicative of progress, though under exist ing world conditions their effect has not been appreciable.
Proceedings in Admiralty Courts are quite in formal. Usually they are in rem, that is to say, the ship or cargo or some part of either are proceeded against rather than the master or owner in person. The initiation of an action takes the form of posting a libel, i.e., attaching the same to the mast or some conspicuous place on the vessel, or to that part of the cargo against which a claim is made. The attachment of a libel creates a lien which can be discharged only by the entry of a bond, or the deposit in court of adequate security, or the payment of the claim. See DANISH SOUND DUES.
principal modern Codes of Maritime Law are the following: 'Belgium Code of Commerce' (Book II) ; Egypt, 'Code of Maritime Commerce' ; France, 'Code of Commerce' ; Germany, 'Mercantile Law' (Book IV) ; Holland, 'Commercial Portugal, (Commercial Code,' and Spain, 'Commercial Code.' Dembski, V., 'Europe and the New Sea Law' (London 1912) ; Duckworth, clopmdia of Marine Law' (London 1907); Parsons, 'Shipping and Admiralty' (2 vols., Boston 1869) ; Saunders, 'Maritime Law' (London 1901) ; Smith, David Wright, 'Rule of the Road at Sea' (Glasgow 1910) ; Twiss, Sir Travers, 'Black Book of the Admiralty' (4 vols., London 1871).