Encyclopedia of Public International Law 11: Law of the Sea - Air and Space [11] 0444862420, 9780444862426

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW

11 LAW OF THE SEA AIR AND SPACE

EDITORIAL COMMIITEE

Rudolf Dolzer, Dr. iur., S.J.D. (Harvard) Robert E. Hollweg, J.D. (Univ. of Michigan) Steven Less, J.D. (Seton Hall Univ.), Dr. iur. (Heidelberg) Peter Macalister-Smith, B.A. (Kent), Ph.D. (Birmingham)

The articles in this Encyclopedia should be cited (until publication of the final edition) according to the following example: H.-J. Schlochauer, Arbitration, in: R. Bernhardt (ed.), Encyclopedia of Public International Law, Instalment 1 (1981), p. 13.

r

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR COMPARATIVE PUBLIC LAW AND INTERNATIONAL LAW UNDER THE DIRECTION OF RUDOLF BERNHARDT

ADVISORY BOARD RUDOLF L. BINDSCHEDLER . THOMAS BUERGENTHAL . KARL DOEHRING JOCHEN ABR. FROWEIN . GUNTHER JAENICKE, HERBERT MIEHSLER HERMANN MOSLER· FRITZ MUNCH· DANIEL P. O'CONNELL KARL JOSEF PARTSCH· PIERRE PESCATORE· HENRY G. SCHERMERS ULRICH SCHEUNER . HANS-JURGEN SCHLOCHAUER . MAX SORENSEN HELMUT STREBEL

11 LAW OF THE SEA· AIR AND SPACE

I

1989

NORTH-HOLLAND AMSTERDAM . NEW YORK . OXFORD . TOKYO

ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHERS B.Y. SARA BURGERHARTSTRAAT 25 P.O. BOX 211,1000 AE AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS

Distributors for the United States and Canada:

ELSEVIER SCIENCE PUBLISHlNG COMPANY INC. 655, AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS NEW YORK, N.Y. 1OC1O, U.S.A.

Library of Congress Cataloglnll in Publication Data

Main entry under title: Encyclopedia of public international law. Issued in parts. Includes index. 1. International law - Dictionaries. I. Bernhardt, Rudolf, 1925II. Max-Planck-Institut fur auslandisches offentliches Recht und Volkerrecht (Heidelberg, Germany) JX1226.E5 341' .03 81-939 AACR2

ISBN: 0444 86242 0

© ELSEVIER SCIENCE

PUBLISHERS B.Y. -1989

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Elsevier Science Publishers B.Y /Social Sciences and Humanities Section, P.O. Box 1991, 1000 BZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Special regulations for readers in the USA -- This publication has been registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. (CCC), Salem, Massachusetts. Information can be obtained from the CCC about conditions under which photocopies of parts of this publication may be made in the USA. All other copyright questions, including photocopying outside of the USA, should be referred to the puhlisher. No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

INTRODUCTORY NOTE The eleventh instalment of the Encyclopedia of Public International Law comprises 97 articles devoted to the law of the sea, air and space. Articles which might have been included in this volume but which relate to more than one subject area can be found in another appropriate instalment of the Encyclopedia. Thus, for example, the various articles concerned with air and marine warfare were included in Instalments 3 and 4 together with the other entries on the use of force. As a further example, decisions of international courts and tribunals relating to the law of the sea can be found in Instalment 2, but several recent cases decided since the publication of that instalment are included in the present volume. To facilitate the use of the Encyclopedia, two kinds of cross-references are used. Arrow-marked cross-references in the articles -themselves refer to other entries, and are generally inserted at the first relevant point in an article (e.g. The case was submitted to the ~ International Court of Justice). For other topics for which a separate entry might be expected but which are discussed elsewhere or under a heading which does not immediately suggest itself, the title of the topic appears in the alphabetical sequence of articles with a cross-reference to the article where it is discussed (e.g. INQUIRY see Fact-Finding and Inquiry). At the end of each instalment there is an updated list of articles for the entire set of instalments of the Encyclopedia. All articles which have already appeared have a number in brackets identifying the instalment in which they may be found. The manuscripts for this instalment were finalized in mid-1988.

----------------------------------

CONTENTS List of Entries for this Instalment (with Names of Authors) List of Abbreviations

.....

Articles in Alphabetical Order List of Articles for the Entire Encyclopedia

lX

Xlll

1 343

LIST OF ENTRIES Admiralty Law (Geoffrey Marston)

1

,

Air Law (Bin Cheng)

.....

5

Air Pollution (Alexandre Kiss)

12

Air Transport Agreements (Ludwig Weber)

15

Air Transport, Regulation of Liability (Michael Milde)

18

Aircraft (Michael Milde)

22

Airports (Peter Badura)

24

Airspace over Maritime Areas (Kay Hailbronner)

27

Amoco Cadiz Incident (Lothar Gundling)

31

Archipelagos (L.F.E. Goldie) . . . . . . .

33

Artificial Islands and Installations (Fritz Munch)

38

Astronauts (Bin Cheng)

40

Baselines (P.B. Beazley)

43

Bays and Gulfs (Leo J. Bouchez)

45

Cables, Submarine (Rainer Lagoni) .

48

Celestial Bodies (Sylvia Maureen Williams) .

51

Chicago Convention (Ludwig Weber) . . . .

54

Civil Aviation, Unlawful Interference with (Kay Hailbronner) .

57

Coastal Fisheries (Rudiger Wolfrum)

61

Collisions at Sea (LA. Shearer) . . .

63

Common Heritage of Mankind (Rudiger Wolfrum)

65

Conferences on the Law of the Sea (Renate Platzoder)

69

Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas (Barbara Kwiatkowska)

76

Contiguous Zone (Frank Wooldridge) . .

78

Continental Shelf (Christos L. Rozakis) .

82

Continental Shelf Case (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Malta) (Karin Oellers-Frahm)

91

Continental Shelf Case (Tunisia/Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (Karin Oellers-Frahm)

94

Continental Shelf, Outer Limits (Ulf-Dieter Klemm) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

99

Exclusive Economic Zone (Shigeru Oda) . . . . . . . .

102

Fisheries, International Regulation (Rudiger Wolfrum)

109

Fisheries, Sedentary (Bernd Riister)

113

. Fishery Commissions (Rudiger Wolfrum)

117

x

LIST OF ENTRIES

Fishery Zones and Limits (Jean Carroz)

121

Fishing Boats (Gerhard Hafner) . . . . .

124

Flags of Convenience (Jonathan S. Ignarski)

125

Flags of Vessels (David D. Caron)

.

127

Free Ports (Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum)

128

Geneva Convention and Statute on the International Regime of Maritime Ports (Stefan Oeter). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

130

Gulf of Maine Case (Karin Oellers-Frahm)

131

Heleanna Incident (Stefan Oeter)

135

High Seas (Tullio Treves) . . .

136

Hospital Ships (Michael Bothe)

141

Hot Pursuit (Frank Wooldridge) .

145

Hovering Acts (Geoffrey Marston)

148

Innocent Passage, Transit Passage (D.H.N. Johnson)

150

Internal Waters (Rainer Lagoni)

.

153

Internal Waters, Seagoing Vessels in (Rainer Lagoni)

155

International Sea-Bed Area (Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum)

160

Islands (D.W. Bowett)

.

165

Korean Air Lines Incident (1983) (Joseph H.H. Weiler) .

167

Land-Locked and Geographically Disadvantaged States (Lucius Caftisch)

169

Law of the Sea (Giinther Jaenicke) ..

174

Law of the Sea, History (E.D. Brown)

191

Lighthouses and Lightships (Matthias Hartwig) .

196

Liner Conferences (Stefan Oeter)

197

.

Marine Environment, Protection and Preservation (Jean J .A. Salmon)

200

Marine Research (Tullio Treves)

207

.

Maritime Archaeology (Lyndel V. Prott and P.J. O'Keefe)

210

Maritime Boundaries, Delimitation (Lucius Caftisch) . . . .

212

Maritime Boundary between Guinea and Guinea-Bissau Arbitration (A. Pillepich)

219

Maritime Jurisdiction (Geoffrey Marston) . . . .

221

Maritime Safety Regulations (Gerhard Breuer) .

224

Merchant Ships (Rainer Lagoni)

.....

228

Navigation, Freedom of (D.H.N. Johnson)

233

Navigation on Rivers and Canals (Bela Vitanyi)

235

LIST OF ENTRIES

xi

Nuclear Ships (Werner Bischof) . .

240

Oil Pollution Conventions (Michael Bothe)

245

...

249

Onassis Incident (Matthias Hartwig)

Outer Space Treaty (Nicolas Mateesco Matte)

251

Overflight (Ludwig Weber)

253

.

Pearl Fisheries (Peter Macalister-Smith)

256

Piracy (Alfred P. Rubin)

259

Ports (Peter Badura) . .

262

Postal Ships (Michael J. Hahn)

266

Pueblo Incident (Juliane Kokott)

268

Red Crusader Incident (Jorg Polakiewicz)

271

Salvage of Ships (Hans-Heinrich Noll) ..

272

Satellite Broadcasting (Jochen Abr. Frowein) .

273

Sea Lanes (Gerhard Breuer)

276

.

Sea-Bed and Subsoil (Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum)

277

Seal Fisheries (Clemens Lerche) . . . . . . .

284

Ships in Distress (Alfred-Maurice de Zayas)

287

Ships, Nationality and Status (David D. Caron)

289

Sovereignty over Airspace (Michael Milde) . . .

297

Space Activities, Responsibility and Liability for (Bin Cheng) .

299

Space Law (Nicolas Mateesco Matte) . . . . . . . . .

303

Spacecraft, Satellites and Space Objects (Bin Cheng)

309

State Aircraft (Kay Hailbronner) . . . . .

317

State Ships (Gil Carlos Rodriguez Iglesias)

320

Straits (D.H.N. Johnson)

323

Submarines (LA. Shearer)

326

Territorial Sea (Surya P. Sharma)

328

Torrey Canyon, The (Robert H. Stansfield)

333

United States v. California (Monterey Bay Case) (Markus Georg Schmidt)

335

Warning Zones at Sea (Gerhard Breuer)

336

Weather Modification (Ray J. Davis)

339

Whaling Regime (P. Birnie) . . . . .

340

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACHR AFDI AJCL AJIL AnnIDI Annual Digest Australian YIL AVR BFSP BILC BYIL CahDroitEur CanYIL CJEC Clunet CMLR CMLRev ColJTransL Comecon CTS DeptStateBull DirInt EC ECHR ECOSOC ECR ECSC EEC EFTA ESA ETS EuR Euratom Eurocontrol FAO Fontes GAOR GATT GYIL Harvard ILJ IAEA lATA IBRD ICAO ICJ ICLQ

American Convention on Human Rights Annuaire Francais de Droit International American Journal of Comparative Law American Journal of International law Annuaire de l'Institut de Droit International Annual Digest and Reports of Public International Law Cases Australian Yearbook of International Law Archiv des Volkerrechts British and Foreign State Papers British International Law Cases (c. Parry, ed.) British Year Book of International Law Cahiers de Droit Europeen Canadian Yearbook of International Law Court of Justice of the European Communities Journal du Droit International Common Market Law Reports Common Market Law Review Columbia Journal of Transnational Law Council for Mutual Economic Aid Consolidated Treaty Series (c. Parry, ed.) Department of State Bulletin Diritto Internazionale European Community or European Communities European Convention on Human Rights Economic and Social Council of the United Nations Reports of the Court of Justice of the European Communities (European Court Reports) European Coal and Steel Community European Economic Community European Free Trade Association European Space Agency European Treaty Series Europa-Recht European Atomic Energy Community European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Fontes Iuris Gentium General Assembly Official Records General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade German Yearbook of International Law Harvard International Law Journal International Atomic Energy Agency International Air Transport Association International Bank for Reconstruction and Development International Civil Aviation Organization International Court of Justice International and Comparative Law Quarterly ~

XIV

ICRC ICSID IDA IDI IFC ILA ILC ILM ILO ILR IMCO IMF IMO Indian JIL IntLawyer IntRel ItalYIL JIR LNTS LoN Martens R Martens SR Martens R2 Martens NR Martens NS Martens NRG Martens NRG2 Martens NRG3 NATO NedTIR NILR NordTIR OAS OAU OECD PCU PolishYIL ProcASIL RdC Res. RevBelge Rev Egypt RevHellen RGDIP RIAA RivDirInt SAYIL SchweizJIR SCOR SEATO

LIST OF ABBREVIAnONS

International Committee of the Red Cross International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes International Development Association Institut de Droit International International Finance Corporation International Law Association International Law Commission International Legal Materials International Labour Organisation International Law Reports Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization International Monetary Fund International Maritime Organization Indian Journal of International Law International Lawyer International Relations Italian Yearbook of International Law Jahrbuch fiir Internationales Recht League of Nations Treaty Series League of Nations Martens Recueil de Traites Martens Supplement au Recueil des principaux traites Martens Recueil de Traites, 2me ed. Martens Nouveau Recueil de Traites Martens Nouveau Supplement au Recueil de Traites Martens Nouveau Recueil General de Traites Martens Nouveau Recueil General de Traites, 2me Serie Martens Nouveau Recueil General de Traites, 3me Serie North Atlantic Treaty Organization Nedcrlands Tijdschrift voor Internationaal Recht Netherlands International Law Review Nordisk Tidsskrift for International Ret Organization of American States Organization of African Unity Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Permanent Court of International Justice Polish Yearbook of International Law Proceedings of the American Society of International Law Academic de Droit International, Recueil des Cours Resolution Revue BeIge de Droit International Revue Egyptienne de Droit International Revue Hellenique de Droit International Revue Generale de Droit International Public Reports of International Arbitral Awards Rivista di Diritto Internazionalc South African Yearbook of International Law Schweizerisches Jahrbuch fiir intemationales Recht Security Council Official Records South-East Asia Treaty Organization

LIST OF ABBREVIAnONS

xv

Strupp-Schlochauer, Strupp-Schlochauer, Worterbuch des Volkerrechts (2nd ed., 1960/62) Worterbuch

Supp. Texas ILJ UN UN Doc. UNCTAD UNEP UNESCO UNIDO UNITAR UNTS UPU UST WEU WHO WMO YILC ZaoRV

Supplement Texas International Law Journal United Nations United Nations Document United Nations Conference on Trade and Development United Nations Environment Programme United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United Nations Industrial Development Organization United Nations Institute for Training and Research United Nations Treaty Series Universal Postal Union United States Treaties and Other International Agreements Western European Union World Health Organization World Meteorological Organization Yearbook of the International Law Commission Zeitschrift fiir auslandisches offentliches Recht und Volkerrecht

ADMIRALTY LAW

particular case between the King of Portugal and an Englishman in respe ct of goods taken by the

1. Notion. - 2. Historical Evolution in England and

Scotland. - 3. Historical Evolution in the United States . - 4 . Historical Evo lution in O ther Co untries . 5. The Content o f Admir alty Law . - 6. Particular

Features of Admiralty Law: (a) Types of actions. (b) Ge ne ral ave rage . (c) Salvage . (d) Prerogative rights.

(e) Prize. (f) Collision. - 7. The Relationship ofAdmiralty Law to International Law.

1. No/ion In its narrowest and historical se nse , ad miralty law is the body of law applied, and the procedure used, by the tribunals exercising the jurisdictio n of the High Co urt of Admiralty in England and by the tribunals exercising the equivalent jurisdiction in coun tries to which English law in this respect was ta ken . It sho uld be distingui shed both from genera l maritime law _with which it is ofte n co nfused , and from the .... law of the sea applicable amo ng sove rei g n States

(~

Maritime Juris-

dicti on) . 2. Historical E volution in England and Scotlan d Because o f its international flavour. maritime

law in the countries of Western Europe has evolved on different lines from o the r laws . Rom an maritime law , for example , drew for its content o n the mari time law of R hodes , In the Digest of Justinian it was sta ted in respe ct of the plunder of a shipwreck: "This mail er must be decided by the maritime law of the Rhodians . provided no law of o urs is opposed to it" ( Digest, 14.2.1 ). Th e Euro pea n trading citie s formulated their o wn co dificatio ns of maritime laws anti cus to ms. the

best know n of which arc t he Rules of O lero n , the laws of Wisby, the Tables of Amalfi and the Co nsolato del I\IMe ( .... Histor y of the Law of Nation s). Althou gh rOe term " Ad miral" had been introduced a t ~Pll

.urher time to describe the pe rson,

or person s. in charge of the fleets around the English coasts . the orig in of the Admiralty Court ca n be trac ed " w ith tolerable certainty " according to Marsde n to the period between lJ40 and 1357.

Up to that time maritime disputes . civil and criminal. were heard by the o rdina ry co urts in England . o r hy the C hancellor or the King's Co uncil. In 1357 appeared the first re ferenc e to the Admi ral act ing as an ad judicator, in the

latter from a Fre nch ship which had previously seized them . In 1360 the King of England granted to the Admiral of the fleets a power to hear and det erm ine pleas secundum legem maritimam and to appoint a de puty, probably to act as a judge. From this time the Admiral o r his deputy heard criminal cases, mostly .... piracy, and civil cases arising out of maritime contracts and torts and charter-parties. It was the " law merchant" or lex m ercatoria as this had evolved through the various maritime codes, and not the English common law, which the court of the Admiral applied. In the words of Gilmore and Black : "[Tjhe administering of maritime custo mar y law by maritime tribu nals was at the most a special aspect of th at concession fro m local territorial jurisdiction which allowed to trading people the competency 10 iron ou t their own troubles am ong themselves." The judicial activity of the Ad mir al led 10 a conflict with the courts administering the English common law . By two statutes in 1389 and 1391 (13 Ric. II , c. 5 and 15 Ric. II , c.3 ), the are as of competence of the conflicting tribunals were demarcated, the Admiral being excluded from hcaring causes arising "within the realm", though with a concurrent jurisdiction with the common law courts in respect of certain serious crim inal matters taking place on board ships in river mouths and estuaries within the realm . In recent times the demarcati on set out in the above statutes has been interpreted, rightly o r wrongly, as proof that the realm of England (and by analogy British territories o ther than E ngland) does not extend at common law to any part of wha t is now kn own as the .... territorial sea and .... continental shelf ( R . v. Keyn (the Franconia) (1876 ) 2 Ex .D . 63, as appli ed by the Supreme Co urt of the Uni ted States in .... United States v. California (Monterey Bay Case) 332 U.S . 19 (1947), the Supreme Court of Can ad a in Reference re Offshore Mineral Rights of Briti sh Columbia (1967) 65 D.L.R. (2d .) 353 an d Reference re Continental Shelf Offshore Newfoundland ( 1984) 5 D.L.R. (4th)385, and the High Court of Au stralia in New South Wale s v . The Commonwealth of Australia (1975 ) 137 C. L. R. 337). A further dispute arose ill England between the

2

ADMIRALTY LAW

Admiral's court and the comrron law courts, this time in respect of the procedural law applicable in criminal trials which in the case of the Admiral's court was the civil law and not the common law of England. By a statute of 1536 (28 H. 8, c.15) the trial of major crimes cornrr.itted at sea was transferred from the Admira 's court to Commissioners who were to try the cases as if they had been committed on land. A later statute of 1799 (39 Geo. 3, c. 37) extended this procedure to all crimes, and later still in 1834 (4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 36) and 1844 (7 & 8 Vic., c. 2) the trial of crimes committed on board British ships at sea was transferred from the Commissioners to the regular courts of common law. The effect of the above statutory intervention was to deprive the criminal law of the international influence which marked uther areas of maritime law. An exception to this was piracy which retains its ancient links with international practice although triable in the common law courts (see Re Piracy Jure Gentium (1934) A.c. 586). Yet a further conflict developed in England between the Admiral's court and the common law courts. In the early 17\.h century Chief Justice Coke, in particular, denied that the Admiral's court had any jurisdiction over contracts made on land, in England or abroad, even if they were to be . performed at sea. Thus by the fiction that such contracts were deemed to have been made and performed in Cheapside (a district of London) the common law courts assumed jurisdiction over them. By the late 17th century ~ he jurisdiction of the Admiral's court had narrow ed rnd was confined to torts committed on the -+ high seas, contracts made at sea and to be performed there, proceedings in rem on bottomry bonds made in foreign ~ ports, salvage suits for seamen's wages and suits over the droits of wre ck at sea. pirate goods and royal fishes. The inconvenience caused to litigants by this limited jurisdiction led belatedly to a statutory countermovement. By a number of statutes beginning in 1840 (3 & 4 Vic., c. (5) some of the jurisdiction lost was restored to the Admiral's court, including title to or ownership of ships, damage to cargo and damage caused by ships. The existence of the High Cour t of Admiralty as a separate tribunal ended following the Supreme Court of !udicature Acts of 1873 (36 & 37 Vic., c.

66) and 1875 (38 & 39 Vic., c. 77) whereby its jurisdiction was transferred to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the newly-formed High Court of Justice. The Admiralty court had already lost, in 1859, the distinction of having its own practitioners, called advocates and proctors, who also practised in the ecclesiastical courts and were distinct from the practitioners in the common law courts. By the Administration of Justice Act 1970 (1970, c. 31) the High Court's Admiralty and prize jurisdiction were transferred to a tribunal called the Admiralty Court, part of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court. In Scotland there was from, at the latest, the 15th century the office of Lord High Admiral of Scotland with a jurisdiction covering civil and criminal maritime causes and applying the law merchant. The court survived the Treaty of Union with England in 1707 but its functions were later transferred by statute to other Scottish tribunals and it ceased to exist in 1830.

3. Historical Evolution in the United States In the British North American colonies, as in British colonies elsewhere, Vice-Admiralty courts were established by the Crown. These tribunals, which were separate from the regular courts of the colonies, administered the civil jurisdiction of the High Court of Admiralty in England and some criminal jurisdiction, in particular statutory offences under revenue legislation. They used the procedure of the civil law and not the common law and in particular did not employ juries in criminal cases. Their power, particularly in revenue prosecutions. became a source of local protest. Art. III, para. 2 of the Constitution of the independent United States provided that the judicial power of the United States, i.e. the federal authority, extended "to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction". An Act of Congress of 1789 interpreted this broad power by providing that the federal courts "shall also have inclusive original cognizance of all civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ... saving to suitors, in all cases, the right of a common law remedy, where the common law is competent to give it". This formulation has led to much judicial debate over the respective domains of federal and state laws in maritime matters (~ Federal States). A further question was whether the words "admiral-

3

ADMIRALTY LAW ty and maritime jurisdiction " meant the jurisdiction exercised by the High Court of Admiralty in England at the time of the independence of the United States, a jurisdiction which, as mentioned above, had been curtailed by the action of the common law courts. In practice , however, the United States courts have given the words a wide meaning as encompassing all maritime torts and injuries and all maritime contracts which relate to the navigation, business or commerce of the sea (De Lovio v. Boit, 7 Fed . Ca s. 418 ( 18 15 ) and Insurance Company v. Dunham , 78 U. S. 90 (1871» At the date of the Constitution it was doubtless '. assumed that there existed a body of ma ritime law to provide the substantive law to he a pplied by th e federal tribunals under the admiralty power. References to the lex m ercatoria are to be found in the early United States court decision s, but. as in the United Kingdom, this maritime law has been supplemented and replaced by statutory provisions .

4. Historical Evolution in Other Countries In countries which derive their legal system from England, such as Canada , Australia and New Zealand, and in some other former British possessions, such as South Africa, the jurisdiction of the Admiral was conferred on th e local courts by United Kingdom statute, in criminal matters by the Admiralty Offences (Colonial) Act 1849 ( 12 & 13 Vic., c. 96) and in civil matters by the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act 1890 (53 & 54 Vic. , c. 27) . As these countries are no w ind ependent o f the United Kingdom it is inevitable that the jurisdiction will be increasingly affected by local legislation , e.g. the Admiralty A ct 1973 ( New Zealand) , the Crimes at Sea Act 1979' (A ustralia) and the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act 1983 (South Africa) .

in respect o f the possessi on or owne rship of a ship , a mortg age or charge on a ship, damage rec eived

by a ship o r done by a ship, loss of life or personal injury in conseq uence o f any defect in a ship, or of any wro ngful act , neglect o r default of the master , own ers, ch arterers or crew , loss o f o r da mage to any goods ca rr ied in a ship, salvage , towage, pilotage , goods o r materials supplied to a ship , general average , bottomry, and droits of Admiralty . Th e Act also preserves an y other Admiralty jurisdiction which th e High Co urt had , which would include, for example, priz e. One traditional head of Admira lty jur isd ictio n, wreck at sea , still falls under th e pro visio ns of th e Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (57 8: 58 Vict . , C. 60 ) ( ...... Collis ions at Sea). Gilmore and Black descri be the corresponding position in the Unite« Slates as follows: " T he resultant conception of our admiralty jurisdiction has been one of fairly complete coverage o f the primary operation al and service concerns o f th e shipping ind ust ry , with a few anomalous exceptions. " Issues still arise with regard to the extent of th e Admiralty jurisdiction conferred on the fed eral co urts . Thus in Foremost Insuran ce Co mpany v. Richardso n, 457 U .S. 668 ( 1982) , the Su preme Court held th at a collis ion be tween two pleasure boats o n a river was within the federal court's jurisdiction and not th at of the sta te court . It hJS long been clear that the Ad miralty jur isdicti on in the United States is not confined to tidal waters but exte nds to nav iga ble non-tidal waters (T he G enesee Chiefv. Fitzhu gh , 53 U .S. 443 ( ! 8~ 1 » ; in the Richardso n case It was decided t~a t it was uot con fined to com mercial maritime act ivity .

6. Panicutar

F£ al W~S

of Admiralty L a "

Certain feature s of .vdrniralty law nV d k it as distinct from o uter a"eas O f the law in the co unt ries in which it applies .

5. The Content of Admiralty Law

(a) Types o] ,c··,' ··..'5

The Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court in England and the equivalent co urts in Scotland has been consolidated an d set out in a number of statutes since 1875, namely the Supreme Court of Judicature (Consolidation) Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo . 5, c. 49), the Administration of Justice Act 1956 (4 & 5 Eliz . 2, c. 46) and the Supreme Court Act 1981 ( ' 'l81, c. 54) . It now includes an y claim

ill p ersonc oj : against a particular pp.r",.or.. c r in rem against a part icular object, usua uy a ve, ,