For example, the European laws of Oléron (created around 1150) stipulated that shipowners were responsible for the cost of living and medical care for sailors who fell ill or injured in the course of their work. This “maintenance and healing” law is still included in current U.S. maritime law. While the principle of maintenance and healing covered basic costs and medical care, the rights of wounded sailors in the United States were not clearly defined until the 20th century. The Supreme Court rendered several important decisions in Osceola, 189 U.S. 158 (1903), in which a sailor aboard the Osceola was injured, allegedly as a result of a negligent order from the ship`s master. After the revision of the law of the sea, which was based on the Rolls d`Oléron of the 12th century. The Supreme Court upheld the principle of maintenance and healing and ruled that injured seafarers can sue a ship and its owner if their injuries were caused by a ship unseaworthy. However, if a seafarer`s injuries were due to negligence, the seafarer was not allowed to take legal action. Unfortunately, this decision lasted about 20 years. In the United States, maritime law or admiralty law came into effect when the Judiciary Act of 1789 gave federal district courts jurisdiction over admiralty cases, making the Supreme Court of the United States the final authority on admiralty matters. Although all Admiralty and maritime court cases have been placed under federal jurisdiction, there is still an “austerity clause” that allows state courts to hear certain maritime cases. Although not all the original principles of Admiralty law yet apply, some principles are used today, such as maintenance and healing, marine insurance, general average and rescue.
Admiralty law gradually became part of American law through admiralty cases that occurred after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1789. Many American lawyers who played an important role in the American Revolution were admiralty and Maritime lawyers. These include Alexander Hamilton in New York and John Adams in Massachusetts. Most common law countries (including Pakistan, Singapore, India and many other Commonwealth of Nations countries) follow English status and English jurisprudence. India still follows many British laws of the Victorian era such as the Admiralty Court Act 1861 [24 Vict c 10]. Although Pakistan now has its own law, the Admiralty Jurisdiction of High Courts Ordinance, 1980, it also follows English case law. One reason for this is that the 1980 Ordinance is partly based on the old English Admiralty Act, namely the Administration of Justice Act 1956. The current law dealing with the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of the High Court of England and Wales is the Senior Courts Act 1981, art. 20-24, 37. The provisions of these articles are again based on the 1952 International Convention on Arrest.
Other countries that do not respect English law and jurisprudence, such as Panama, have also established well-known maritime courts that regularly adjudicate international cases. Federal maritime law regarding assault and wrongful homicide often differs from state law. For example, many (but not all) federal marine claims are heard by a judge rather than a jury. The founding fathers of the United States recognized the importance of maritime law. Both the Constitution and the first federal laws dealt with maritime activities. Article III of the United States Constitution states that “judicial power expands. for all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction”. As a result, many maritime law cases are subject to federal rather than state law. However, certain types of maritime cases may be heard in state or federal courts.
Although the Pied Poudre`s courts, which were primarily responsible for settling disputes in English fairs and markets, also had special jurisdiction over seafarers` affairs, it is likely that the first English courts to apply maritime law, based on the Rolls d`Oléron, were the courts of the Cinque Ports. The High Court of the Admiralty, which sat in London, and the Vice-Admiralty Courts, which were established in the other ports, were a later development. They were named after the admiral, an officer whose duties were initially exclusively administrative and military, but were extended to disciplinary proceedings in cases such as piracy in the early 14th century. The Admiralty Court dates back to 1360, when the admiral was expressly vested for the first time with jurisdiction over civil maritime affairs. Until the end of the 16th century. In the nineteenth century, the Admiralty courts had exercised extremely broad jurisdiction that extended far beyond saltwater transport in many areas of commercial law. But in the first half of the 17th century, common law court judges succeeded in depriving their Admiralty competitors of their commercial jurisdiction and limiting them to judging “things done at sea.” Each of the elements of seafaring status in the Jones Act has a specific legal definition, and all of these factors have been fiercely debated in court. An experienced marine attorney can help you determine if you can claim damages for injury or death under the Jones Act. In English-speaking countries, “admiralty” is sometimes used interchangeably, but in a narrower sense, the term refers to the jurisdiction and procedural law of courts whose origins date back to the office of admiral. Although the law of the sea and “law of the sea” are etymological identical, the former term is generally applied to private maritime law, while the latter, usually preceded by “international”, refers to the maritime segment of international law.
The Convention on the Law of the Sea, on the other hand, is a United Nations agreement on territorial waters, sea routes and marine resources. The Convention was initially signed by 119 countries on 10 December 1982. The Supreme Court has examined the law of the sea and customs, dating back to the European Code of Oléron, before taking several important decisions, including: The Comité Maritime International (CMI), founded in 1897, initiated a unification of the national maritime laws of member countries.