33 U.S.C. § 2005
Section 2005 · Look-out (Rule 5)
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 43 court decisions — leading case Folkstone Maritime, Ltd. v. CSX Corp. (1995)
Most recently applied in Youngberg v. McKeough (August 2013)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
Section was enacted as part of section 2 of Pub. L. 96–591 which enacted the Inland Navigational Rules which comprise this subchapter.