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Crew Conduct As Unseaworthiness, James E. Saari

Cleveland State Law Review

It seems repugnant to all law that a shipowner should be held liable under the doctrine of unseaworthiness for occurrences which he has no reasonable way of preventing. The shipowner may be best protected by incorporating his knowledge of a crew member's dangerous propensities as an element of proof in assault cases based on unseaworthiness. Should general maritime law continue to offer legal barriers to shipowners, a seaman's workmen's compensation statute or a general re-draft of the Jones Act could enable the shipowner to set up stronger defense in an unseaworthiness action.