Merchant Shipping Law

The aim of this comprehensive reference book is to provide seafarers, maritime lawyers, academics, historians, maritime authorities, maritime training institutions and others with an authoritative account of the development of international maritime organisations, and institutions and international law for merchant ships.

The book starts with an analysis of imperfections and ambiguities in regulations for watertight bulkheads and carriage of lifeboats introduced in Great Britain during the last decade of the nineteenth century that directly contributed to a large loss of life at sea aboard the Titanic in 1912, running through legislation and conventions during and post-wartime, to the comprehensive Maritime Labour Convention, adopted in 2006.

It traces initiatives which led to the adoption of the Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) in 1982, and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the LOSC. The need for a comprehensive Treaty for protection of the marine environment came about as the direct result of oil spills from tankers during the 1970s, often resulting in widespread contamination of coastal States' shorelines.

Statistics are analysed and presented to determine whether regulation of safety and security of ships, seafarers and the marine environment, and effectiveness of maritime organisations and institutions, provide an effective framework of international maritime law.

This is a companion volume to Captain John Mansell's Merchant Shipping Law - Development of National and Customary Law for Safety of Life at Sea, 2023, Ethics International Press.