| ALEX R. HERNANDEZ JR. ATTORNEY AT LAW |
| ADMIRALTY AND MARITIME LAW Admiralty law or maritime law is the distinct body of law (both substantive and procedural) governing navigation and shipping. Topics associated with this field in legal reference works may include: shipping; navigation; waters; commerce; seamen; towage; wharves, piers, and docks; insurance; maritime liens; canals; and recreation. Piracy (ship hijacking) is also an aspect of admiralty. The courts and Congress seek to create a uniform body of admiralty law both nationally and internationally in order to facilitate commerce. The federal courts derive their exclusive jurisdiction over this field from the Judiciary Act of 1789 and from Article III, § 2 of the U.S. Constitution (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitut ion/constitution.articleiii.html#section 2). Congress regulates admiralty partially through the Commerce Clause (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitut ion/constitution.articlei.html#section8 ). American admiralty law formerly applied only to American tidal waters. It now extends to any waters navigable within the United States for interstate or foreign commerce. In such waters admiralty jurisdiction includes maritime matters not involving interstate commerce, including recreational boating. Admiralty law in the United States developed from the British admiralty courts present in most of the American colonies. These courts functioned separately from courts of law and equity. With the Judiciary Act, though, Congress placed admiralty under the jurisdiction of the federal district courts. Although admiralty shares much in common with the civil law, it is separate from it. Common law does not act as binding precedent on admiralty courts, but it and other law may be used when no law on point is available. Parties subject to admiralty may not contract out of admiralty jurisdiction, and states may not infringe on admiralty jurisdiction either judicially or legislatively. Since admiralty courts, however, are courts of limited jurisdiction (which does not extend to nonmaritime matters), 28 USC § 1333(1), the "Savings to Suitors Clause," does provide for concurrent state jurisdiction so that non-admiralty remedies will not be foreclosed. Moreover, state courts may have jurisdiction where the matter is primarily local. |
| Maritime Links Maritime Law Association of the United States http://www.mlaus.org/ Maritime New Media maritime photographer http://www.MaritimeNewMedia.com/ IACS International Association of Classification Societies http://www.iacs.org.uk/ American Bureau of Shipping http://www.eagle.org/ DNV Det Norske Veritas http://www.dnv.com/ IMO International Maritime Organization International Maritime Organization http://www.imo.org/ SNAME Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers http://www.sname.org/ Society of Accredited Marine Surveyors http://www.marinesurvey.org/ David Taylor Model Basin Hydromechanics Directorate of the DTMB, NSWC, Carderock Division. http://www50.dt.navy.mil/ NOAA http://www.websites.noaa.gov/ NAVSEA Naval Sea Systems Command http://www.navsea.navy.mil/ Inland Marine Underwriters Association http://www.imua.org/ Lloyd's Register http://www.lr.org/index.html Lloyd's of London http://www.lloydsoflondon.co.uk/ Marine Insurance Megasite http://www.insurance-marine.com/ Steamship Insurance Management Services Limited http://www.simsl.com/ The Baltic Exchange http://www.balticexchange.com/mm/ HomePage.jsp Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce http://www.jmlc.org/ Maritime and Oceanic Law Center University of Nantes (France) site http://palissy.humana.univ-nantes.fr/C DMO/WebThalassa.html Association of Maritime Arbitrators of Canada http://www.amac.ca/ British Maritime Law Association http://www.bmla.org.uk/ Canadian Maritime Law Association http://www.cmla.org/ UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law http://www.uncitral.org/ Univ. of Houston Law Library Admiralty and Maritime Collection http://www.lawlib.uh.edu/Libraries/Bi bliography/admiralty.html State Statutes Dealing with Navigation http://www.law.cornell.edu:80/topics/s tate_statutes3.html#navigation US Coast Guard http://www.uscg.mil/ USCG Waterways Management Security Division http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/mw/org -mwp2.htm US DOT MARAD http://marad.dot.gov/ US FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION http://www.fmc.gov/ US DOJ http://www.usdoj.gov/ US Navy JAG Office of the Judge Advocate General - Admiralty and Maritime Law http://www.jag.navy.mil/ Admiralty@Navy.mil Maritime Security Council http://www.maritimesecurity.org/ US House Committee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation http://www.house.gov/transportation/ U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals: Recent Decisions on Admiralty http://www.law.cornell.edu:9999/USCA -ALL/results.html?search=admiralty%2 0harbor%20navigation U.S. Supreme Court: Recent Decisions on Admiralty http://www4.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/e mpower?DB=SupctSyllabi&TOPDOC=0 &QUERY00=admiralty Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation http://www.senate.gov/%7Ecommerce/ NSnet http://www.nsnet.com/ Maritime History Virtual Archives http://pc-78-120.udac.se:8001/WWW/ Nautica/Nautica.html Maritime New Media maritime photographer http://www.MaritimeNewMedia.com/ |
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TOLL FREE 1-866-552-3101 Alex R. Hernandez Jr. |
| Attorney Alex R. Hernandez Jr. is solely responsible for the content of this website. Houston * Austin * San Antonio * Port Lavaca* Victoria* The Rio Grande Valley Corpus Christi * Miami * San Diego Our law firm (Despacho de Abogados) handles cases throughout the entire United States including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Our lawyers and attorneys (Abogado) also focus on handling lawsuits in the following cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose City, Detroit, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Memphis, Fort Worth, Baltimore, Charlotte, Boston, Seattle, Washington, Milwaukee, Denver, Louisville, Las Vegas, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Portland, Tucson, Corpus Christi, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Long Beach, Fresno, Sacramento, Mesa, Kansas City, Cleveland, Virginia Beach, Omaha, Miami, Oakland, Tulsa, Honolulu, Minneapolis, Colorado Springs, Arlington and Wichita. |
| Under admiralty, the ship's flag determines the source of law. For example, a ship flying the American flag in the Persian Gulf would be and a ship flying a Norwegian flag in American waters will be subject to Norwegian admiralty law. This also applies to criminal law governing the ship's crew. But the ship must be flying the flag legitimately; that is, there must be more than insubstantial contact between the ship and its flag, in order for the law of the flag to apply. American courts may refuse jurisdiction where it would involve applying the law of another country, although in general international law does seek uniformity in admiralty law. Just as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure placed law and equity under the same jurisdiction in 1938, the 1966 rules subsumed admiralty. Nonetheless, the Supplemental Admiralty Rules (http://www. usmarshals.gov/district/wa- w/admiralty/pdf/admiralty.pdf) take precedence over the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (http://www.law. cornell.edu/rules/frcp/) in the event of conflict between the two. |
