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Limitation Of Liability Versus Direct Action Statutes, H. Barton Williams

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The legislative history of the maritime limitation of liability statutes, both in the United States and in England, is uncomplicated. The original sources are available, and in several important opinions, the Supreme Court of the United States has set forth the history of the limitation statutes. Limitation of liability to the value of the owner's interest in the vessel and freight is a principle that springs solely from the general maritime law, and was not recognized either at common law or by the civil law.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to say when and where the idea of limitation …