Admiralty Commons^™

The Child Independence Is Born: James Otis And Writs Of Assistance, James M. Farrell

Communication Scholarship

This chapter is a reexamination of the Writs of Assistance speech by James Otis. In particular, it is a reconsideration of the evidence upon which rests the historical reputation of Otis’s address. Are the claims by historians who credit Otis with sparking the Revolutionary movement in colonial America warranted or not? That reassessment begins with a detailed review of the nature and function of writs of assistance within the political, legal, and economic environment of colonial Massachusetts. It then turns to an analysis of the legal dispute over writs of assistance in the 1761 trial. From there we will ...

The Bp Oil Spill Settlement And The Paradox Of Public Litigation, Samuel Issacharoff, D. Theodore Rave

New York University Law and Economics Working Papers

The streamlined administrative program that BP set up to pay claims arising out of the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill—the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF)—promised a significant transaction-cost savings over litigation in the public court system. At least in theory, that savings should have worked to the benefit of BP and claimants alike, freeing up money that would otherwise have gone to lawyers and other litigation costs to fund claimants’ recoveries. But a comparison of the GCCF to the class action settlement that replaced it reveals that the class settlement will result in greater payments to claimants. Paradoxically, the ...

Incorporation By Reference In Maritime Arbitration, Arjya B. Majumdar

Arjya B Majumdar

This paper deals with maritime arbitration in general and in particular, the applicability of arbitration clauses in charterparties incorporated by reference into bills of lading. Following a discussion on the origin of maritime arbitration we see how dispute resolution in the shipping industry had initially been associated with informal procedures involving little or no dependence upon courts and other systems of formal dispute resolution methods, thus bringing about a special nexus between the maritime industry and non-judicial methods of dispute resolution- such as arbitration.

One of the key requirements of an arbitration to take place is that the arbitration agreement ...

A Maelstrom Of International Law And Intrigue: The Remarkable Voyage Of The S.S. City Of Flint, Andrew J. Norris

Andrew Norris

No abstract provided.

Climate Regulation As If The Planet Matters: The Earth Jurisprudence Approach To Climate Change, Glenn Wright

Environmental and Earth Law Journal

It is now beyond doubt that humans are having an enormously detrimental impact on the natural world. In the face of the incredible environmental challenges we face, new and radical ideas have emerged about how we should regulate human behavior. This paper briefly focuses on the failure of current legal regimes to address climate change, and considers how climate governance would look under the Earth Jurisprudence approach: setting our laws within the context of fundamental principles of ecology and planetary boundaries. Consideration is given to how existing legal concepts could be used to achieve this vision. The paper concludes that ...

State Conservation As Settler Colonial Governance At Ka‘Ena Point, Hawai‘I, Bianca Isaki

Environmental and Earth Law Journal

This paper argues, by illustrating, that liberal multiculturalism and natural resources are interlinked strategies of settler colonial governance in political debates surrounding the construction of a “predator-proof” fence for conservation purposes across Native Hawaiian lands of deep cultural and historical significance at Ka`ena Point, a state wilderness park in Hawai`i. First, this paper shifts debates framed in terms of the seeming recalcitrance of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners to recognize the necessity of natural resource management. Second, it considers how these political debates are repeated in the context of legal questions over the forms through which Native Hawaiian cultural ...

Land Ethic Under Attack: Keystone Xl And The War Over Domestic S(Oil), Heather Culp

Environmental and Earth Law Journal

The Keystone XL pipeline has caused recent controversy and renewed the debate over the future of fossil fuels in the United States. The project pits largely conservative groups, who argue that the pipeline will create jobs and decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil, against environmental advocates, indigenous tribes, and private landowners, who are attempting to fend off the project because they believe it will displace them of their own lands as well as disrupt the natural ecosystems that lay in the pipeline’s path. In the wake of a presidential veto of the project and renewed sentiment by the ...

Permitting Problems: Environmental Justice And The Miccosukee Indian Tribe, Charles Prior

Environmental and Earth Law Journal

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians is a federally recognized tribe that works and resides in the Everglades region of the State of Florida. The Miccosukee have been battling lax water quality standards through lawsuits since the 1990’s. Recent rulings in federal court held that the State of Florida has failed to comply with the Clean Water Act and ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to set nutrient criteria for the water bodies in the state of Florida until the Florida Department of Environmental Protection complies with the Clean Water Act.

This article uses the principles of environmental justice to analyze ...

Commerce And Tradition As Gatekeepers Of Admiralty: Falsity And Futility, Graydon S. Staring

Graydon S. Staring

The use of traditional maritime activity and disruption of maritime commerce as conditions of admiralty tort jurisdiction has no foundation in history or jurisprudence. They conflict with understandings and positive legislation of Congress and cause confusion and fruitless litigation about their meanings and application.

Inside The Blackwall Box: Explaining U.S. Marine Salvage Awards, Joshua C. Teitelbaum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Under U.S. maritime law, a salvor of imperiled maritime property on navigable waters is entitled to a monetary award from the owner. When the salvage service is rendered voluntarily in the absence of a contract, the court determines the salvage award according to six factors enumerated by the Supreme Court in The Blackwall, 77 U.S. 1 (1869). The law, however, does not specify a precise formula or rule for calculating awards on the basis of the Blackwall factors. How do courts turn their findings on the Blackwall factors into salvage awards? This article addresses this question by examining ...

Maritime Transport: The Evolution Of International Marine Policy And Law By Edgar Gold, Robert C. Evans

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Grand Bahama Petroleum Co., Ltd. V. Canadian Transportation Agencies, Ltd.: Maritime Attachment - Relationship Of New Due Process Requirements To Procedures, Charles A. Meade

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

The Ocean Shipping Act Of 1978: New Direction In Maritime Legislation, Steven M. Talson

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

The Public Order Of Ocean Resources: A Critique Of The Contemporary Law Of The Sea By P. Sreenivasa Rao, Frederick S. Tipson

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

China And The Question Of Territorial Sea , Hungdah Chiu

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Shifting Sands: A Meta-Theory For Public Access And Private Property Along The Coast, Melissa K. Scanlan

Melissa K. Scanlan

Over half the United States population currently lives near a coast. As shorelines are used by more people, developed by private owners, and altered by extreme weather, competition over access to water and beaches will intensify, as will the need for a clearer legal theory capable of accommodating competing private and public interests. One such public interest is to walk along the beach, which seems simple enough. However, beach walking often occurs on this ambulatory shoreline where public rights grounded in the public trust doctrine and private rights grounded in property ownership intersect. To varying degrees, each state has a ...

Dismantling The Exxon Valdez: How Misunderstanding One Maritime Accident Led To The Criminalization Of An Entire Profession, Elisabeth A. Fontugne

Elisabeth A. Fontugne

In 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling enough oil to deface the beaches and inlets of Prince William Sound. A year and a half later, Congress spoke, passing the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. And twenty years later, the Supreme Court enunciated a new bright-line rule for punitive damages in maritime cases, closing out the long years of litigation that had followed the spill. For seafarers, however, the grounding of the Exxon Valdez only marked the beginning. It heralded the advent of an era in which the global criminalization of mariners would become the rule. Putting out to ...

A Trying Balance: Determining The Trier Of Fact In Hybrid Admiralty-Civil Cases, Lily Kurland

Washington University Law Review

Although admiralty is among the law’s oldest practices, it continues to play a vital role in modern litigation—whether that be through the transportation of goods on rivers or people on cruise ships. Prior to 1966, a federal court exercising its admiralty jurisdiction relied on a different set of rules than when it acted in law or equity.To accommodate this distinction, cases were placed on separate dockets based on the court’s source of jurisdiction. This system resulted in procedural differences that set admiralty claims apart from others. Admiralty cases were historically tried before the bench, while common ...

Mason V. The Ship Blaireau: Salvage, Slaves, And The Law Of Nations, Kristin Burnworth

Maryland Legal History Publications

In March 1803, French ship Le Blaireau ran into Spanish ship of war St. Julien in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, severely damaging the Blaireau such that her captain and crew abandoned ship and boarded the St. Julien, with the exception of seaman Thomas Toole. The next day, British ship The Firm found and temporarily repaired the Blaireau, and helped Toole bring her into port in Baltimore, which was The Firm’s destination. The case addressed the question of awarding salvage; specifically, to whom should there be salvage, and in what amounts? It also raised questions about jurisdiction and ...

The Merrimack, 12 U.S. 317 (1814): Transatlantic Trade And The Transfer Of Property During The War Of 1812, Jeremy Esperon

Maryland Legal History Publications

A key prong of American strategy during the War of 1812 was to enlist the aid of privateers – private actors licensed by the government to use force against the enemy. Among the ships American privateers seized during the war pursuant to this strategy was the Merrimack, an American-owned vessel returning from Liverpool, England to Baltimore, Maryland carrying on board a cargo of British goods. Her seizure led to the Supreme Court case The Merrimack, 12 U.S. 317 (1814), a seemingly banal case that in fact is a cautionary tale for merchants of one belligerent nation seeking to structure transactions ...