maritime

Pertaining to navigable waters, i.e. to the sea, ocean, great lakes, navigable rivers, or the navigation or commerce thereof. All work occurring on navigable waters is "maritime" within meaning of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. St. Julien v. Diamond M Drilling, D.C.La., 403 F.Supp. 1256, 1259.

See also federal Maritime Commission

- maritime court

- navigable waters

@ Maritime Administration

An agency within the Department of Commerce which promotes and regulates the activities of the U.S. merchant marine, directs emergency operations related to merchant marine activities, establishes specifications for shipbuilding and design, determines routes, and manages other areas of merchant operations. The Maritime Act of 1981 transferred the Maritime Administration to the Department of Transportation.

See also Maritime Commission

@ maritime belt

That part of the sea which, in contradistinction to the open sea, is under the sway of the riparian states. Louisiana v. Mississippi, 202 U.S. 1, 26 S.Ct. 408, 50 L.Ed. 913.

See also marine belt

- territorial waters

@ maritime bills

See bill (maritime law)

@ maritime cause of action

A case arising on the sea, ocean, great lakes, or navigable rivers, or from some act or contract concerning the commerce and navigation thereof. The Thomas Jefferson, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 428, 6 L.Ed. 358; and Peyroux v. Howard, 32 U.S. (7 Pet.) 324, 8 L.Ed. 700.

An action based upon an injury to a passenger of a vessel while on navigable waters and caused by negligence comes within scope of "maritime cause of action" within original jurisdiction of federal District Court. Cuozzo v. Italian Line, Italia-Societa Per Azioni Di Navigazione-Genoa, D.C.N.Y., 168 F.Supp. 304, 306.

See also maritime jurisdiction

- maritime law

- maritime tort

- navigable waters

@ Maritime Commission

The Federal Maritime Commission regulates the waterborne foreign and domestic offshore commerce of the United States, assures that United States international trade is open to all nations on fair and equitable terms, and guards against unauthorized monopoly in the waterborne commerce of the United States. This is accomplished through maintaining surveillance over steamship conferences and common carriers by water; assuring that only the rates on file with the Commission are charged; approving agreements between persons subject to the Shipping Acts of 1916 and 1984; guaranteeing equal treatment to shippers and carriers by terminal operators, freight forwarders, and_ other persons subject to the shipping statutes; and ensuring that adequate levels of financial responsibility are maintained for indemnification of passengers or oil spill cleanup.

See also Maritime Administration

@ maritime contract

A contract relating to business of navigation. Massman Const. Co. v. Bassett, D.C.Mo., 30 F.Supp. 813, 815.

A contract whose subject-matter has relation to the navigation of the seas or to trade or commerce to be conducted by navigation or to be done upon the sea or in ports. One having reference to maritime services or maritime transactions. Marubenilida (America), Inc. v. Nippon Yusen Kaisha, D.C.N.Y., 207 F.Supp. 418, 419.

As regards right to jury trial in contract disputes, see 28 U.S.C.A. No. 1873

@ maritime court

A court exercising jurisdiction in maritime causes; one which possesses the powers and jurisdiction of a court of admiralty.

See admiralty court

- maritime jurisdiction

@ maritime interest

An expression equivalent to marine interest (q.v.)

@ maritime jurisdiction

Jurisdiction over maritime causes is granted to Federal district courts. 28 U.S.C.A. No. 1333. Procedure in maritime actions is governed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Supp. Admiralty Rules.

See admiralty court

@ maritime law

That which the Congress has enacted or the Federal courts, sitting in admiralty, or in the exercise of their maritime jurisdiction, have declared and would apply. J. B. Effenson Co. v. Three Bays Corp., C.A.Fla., 238 F.2d 611, 615.

That system of law which particularly relates to marine commerce and navigation, to business transacted at sea or relating to navigation, to ships and shipping, to seamen, to the transportation of persons and property by sea, and to marine affairs generally. The law relating to harbors, ships, and seamen, divided into a variety of subject areas, such as those concerning harbors, property of ships, duties and rights of masters and seamen, contracts of affreightment, average, salvage, etc. It extends to civil marine torts and injuries, illegal dispossession or withholding of possession from the owners of ships, municipal seizures of ships, etc.

Substantively, in the United States, it is federal law, and jurisdiction to administer it is vested in the federal courts, though not to the entire exclusion of the courts of the states. O'Donnell v. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., 318 U.S. 36, 63 S.Ct. 488, 87 L.Ed. 596.

See maritime jurisdiction

@ maritime lien

A privileged claim on a vessel for some service rendered to it to facilitate its use in navigation, or an injury caused by it in navigable waters, to be carried into effect by legal process in the admiralty court. The Westmoor, D.C.Or., 27 F.2d 886, 887.

A special property right in a ship given to a creditor by law as security for a debt or claim subsisting from the moment the debt arises with right to have the ship sold and debt paid out of proceeds. Such a lien is a proprietary interest or right of property in the vessel itself, and not a cause of action or demand for personal judgment against the owner. The lien is enforced by a direct proceeding against the vessel or other property in which it exists.

See Supp.Admiralty Rule C.

Any person furnishing repairs, supplies, towage, use of dry dock or marine railway, or other necessaries, to any vessel, whether foreign or domestic, upon the order of the owner of such vessel, or of a person authorized by the owner, shall have a maritime lien on the vessel, which may be enforced by suit in rem, and it shall not be necessary to allege or prove that credit was given to the vessel. Federal Maritime Lien Act, No. 971

@ maritime loan

A contract or agreement by which one, who is the lender, lends to another, who is the borrower, a certain sum of money, upon condition that if the thing upon which the loan has been made should be lost by any peril of the sea, or vis major, the lender shall not be repaid unless what remains shall be equal to the sum borrowed; and if the thing arrive in safety, or in case it shall not have been injured but by its own defects or the fault of the master or mariners, the borrower shall be bound to return the sum borrowed, together with a certain sum agreed upon as the price of the hazard incurred

@ maritime prize

See prize

@ maritime service

In admiralty law, a service rendered upon the seas, ocean, great lakes, or a navigable river, and which has some relation to commerce or navigation, -some connection with a vessel employed in trade, with her equipment, her preservation, or the preservation of her cargo or crew

@ maritime state

In English law, consists of the officers and mariners of the British navy, who are governed by express and permanent laws, or the articles of the navy, established by act of parliament

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