Sources of Maritime Law
The first question to be answered in surveying one’s legal rights – under what law am I covered? – points the maritime worker to the specific set of laws which define a maritime worker’s rights and remedies under admiralty law.
Certain legal rights are granted under laws written by Congress. Other remedies for the maritime worker may be found in the accumulated admiralty court decisions of the United States sitting as admiralty courts or from decisions of the admiralty courts of traditional maritime nations (primarily the United Kingdom). More commonly known as the General Maritime Law, these decisions provide significant and longstanding rights and remedies for the modern mariner.
In the admiralty law the most significant written laws for personal injury law include the Jones Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. Each act provides specific rights and remedies for maritime workers; specific coverage is based on the nature and location of the maritime worker’s labor.
Remedies for maintenance and cure, as well as claims against vessel owners for damages sustained as the result of an unseaworthy vessel, were established as the result of years of support for mariners from the Admiralty courts worldwide. These protections for the maritime workers are longstanding and are universally recognized in most modern maritime nations.