Admiralty & Maritime Law

History

Admiralty law has its roots in the ancient customs and traditions of Mediterranean seafaring nations. At the time of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Phoenicia, tribunals were established in different Mediterranean port towns in order to resolve disputes among ships and sailors. Overtime, these decisions were recorded, serving eventually as a system of rules and codes for other courts to follow beyond the Mediterranean Sea. From the time of the Roman Empire down through the rise of Spain and England as maritime powers, these rules and principles informed international maritime law.

Admiralty Law in the United States

The principles and codes codified in the United States body of admiralty law developed out of British admiralty law. In the United States, the Judiciary Act of 1789 and Article III, § 2 of the U.S. Constitution relegated maritime legal matters to the federal courts, granting the Supreme Court final arbitration in maritime cases. While the Constitution and the Judiciary Act assigned maritime legal matters to the Supreme Court, Congress is responsible for determining what laws and regulations constitute US maritime law. While initially maritime law applied to tidal waters, it now applies all navigable waters within the United States that are used for domestic and foreign commerce.

What Admiralty Law Applies To

Admiralty law essentially applies to the legal obligations and rights governing the transportation of cargo and passengers on the high seas and other navigable waters, the rights of seamen and maritime workers, criminal acts at sea, commerce, recreation vessels and enterprises, insurance, piers, docks, and wharves.