Maritime Admiralty Law: A Short History

Maritime law is a legal body that regulates ships and shipping. As sea-borne transportation is one of the most ancient channels of commerce, rules for maritime and trade disputes developed very early in recorded history. Modern admiralty law, often called simply admiralty or maritime law, has its origins in the classical Rhodian law. No primary written specimen of the Rhodian law has survived, but it is alluded to in Roman and Byzantine legal codes as well as the customs of the Hanseatic League, the dominant trading power of the Middle Ages and Early Modern eras.

While traveling the eastern Mediterranean on the Crusades with her first husband, King Louis VII of France, Eleanor of Aquitaine discovered a complicated and advanced system of admiralty law. She brought back this admiralty law and administered it upon her people on the island of Oleron. Later, while acting as regent for her son King Richard the Lionheart in England she founded the British system of admiralty law. In England, special admiralty courts handle all admiralty cases. The courts do not use the common law of England.

In this same way, admiralty or maritime law is distinct from standard land-based laws even today. Even within another country