Abstract
Public international maritime law and the law of the sea provide no uniform definition of the 'ship', a lacuna left unresolved by the 1958 Geneva Conventions and the 1982 Montego Bay Convention. This study surveys three sources - legal doctrine, national legislation and international conventions - to identify the constitutive criteria of the vessel. The author shows that, despite considerable terminological confusion arising from the proliferation of new craft (hovercraft, hydrofoils, floating platforms, automated and submersible engines), doctrine and most legal texts converge on aptitude for maritime navigation as the essential criterion. After examining how comparative legislation and successive conventions variously restrict or extend the concept according to their object, he proposes that, for the purposes of maritime navigation, any organised floating craft capable of moving through maritime spaces, whether on the surface or submerged, should be regarded as a ship, complemented by the flag-State link that attaches it to a given State.
Recommended Citation
Dhimni, Mohamed
(1990)
"An Essay on the Definition of the Ship (Maritime Law, Law of the Sea),"
Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management): Vol. 9:
Iss.
2, Article 15.
https://doi.org/10.66499/2665-7112.1643
Available at:
https://scholarhub.univh2c.ma/remadeg/vol9/iss2/15
DOI
10.66499/2665-7112.1643