Maritime

* Pertaining to navigation or commercial intercourse upon the seas, great lakes and rivers.

Maritime.

Primarily, bordering on the sea: as, a maritime town, coast, nation; secondarily, belonging to those who border on the sea: as, maritime laws, rights, pursuits.

Marine.

Primarily, of or pertaining to the sea: as, marine productions; secondarily, transacted at sea: as, marine service; or, again, doing duty on the sea: as, marine forces.

5 Maritime cause.

An action the subjectmatter of which arises out of the business or ' The Ocean Spray, 4 Saw. 106, 111 (1876), Deady, J. ' 1 Conk. Adm. 107; 80 N. Y. 71; 7 How. 89; 3 Sumn. 115; 1 Bl. Com. 419. 3 L. marit'tts, a married man. commercial relations of persons upon the public navigable waters — seas, rivers, lakes. See Admiralty. Maritime contract. A contract which relates to commerce, or navigation upon the high seas, or navigable lakes or rivers. See Admiralty. Maritime court. A court exercising the powers of a court of admiralty, q. v.

Maritime interest

Marine interest, q. v. See also Maritime Loan. Maritime jurisdiction. Such as is exercised in the cognizance of maritime causes; the jurisdiction exercised in admiralty, q. v.

Maritime law

The law of the sea. The body of principles and usages whi9h, by the consent of civilized communities or nations, has been adopted to regulate the affairs of men engaged in navigation and marine commerce. No single nation can change the law of the sea. That law is of universal obligation. Like all the laws of nations, it rests upon the common consent of civilized communities. It is of force, not because it was prescribed by any superior power, but because it has been generally accepted as a rule of conduct. Many •of the usages which prevail, and which have the force of law, doubtless originated in the positive prescriptions of some single state, which were at first of limited effect, bufc which, when generally accepted, became of universal obligation — as in the cases of the Rhodian law, the Amalphitan table, the ordinances of the Hanseatic League, parts of the ordinances of Louis XIV, the British orders in council of 1863, and our act of congress of 1864. These have become the law of the sea by reason of their acceptance as such. Of these, courts take judicial notice without proof. ^ See Olebon; Rhodian. While the general maritime law is the basis of the maritime law of the United States, as well as of other ■countries, it is only so far operative as it has been adopted by our laws and usages. It has no inherent force of its own. The general system, familiar to lawyers and statesmen, was meant when it was declared that "The judicial Power shall extend.. to all •Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction." " Thus adopted, it became the maritime law of the United States operating uniformly. The question as to the limits of maritime law and admiralty jurisdiction is judicial, and no law can make it broader or narrower than the judicial power may ■determine those limits to be. But what the law is "Within those limits depends on what has been receive'd as law in the maritime usages of this country, and on ■such legislation as may have been competent to affect it.3 1 The Scotia, 14 Wall. 187-88 (1871), Strong, 'J. ' Constitution, Art. Ill, sec.

8.

The French writers on maritime subjects are distinguished for their learning and acumen. The principal text law on which they rely, prior to the Ck)de of Commerce adopted in the present century, is the Ordonnance de la Marine of 1681.' Maritime lien. A lien upon a vessel, for money advanced, labor done, supplies furnished, seamen's wages due, damages from collision, etc., authorized by the maritime law. See further Lien, Maritime.

Maritime loan

A contract by which the lender, in consideration of the sum, which he will lose, if the thing upon which he has made the loan should perish by inevitable casualty, is authorized to stipulate for an interest or extraordinary profit, in case the thing arrives at the proper port.

2 Maritime property. See Abandon, 1; Dereliction, 3.

Maritime service

A service which is performed upon a public navigable water and has some relation to commerce or navigation — some connection with a vessel employed in trade, with her equipment, her preservation, or the preservation of her cargo or crew.s Maritime tort. A wrong committed upon a navigable water over which a court of admiralty exercises jurisdiction; in no case, a tort committed or consummated upon land.* See generally Admiralty.