Database of Judicial Decisions on International Conventions
Overview prepared by Konstantin Krasnokutskiy
“Our object was to give to the sea, which is the natural tie between the nations, the benefit of a uniform law, which will be rational, deliberated, equitable in its inception and practical in its text. We have considered that in our work, the shipowner, the merchant, the underwriter, the average adjuster, the banker, the parties directly interested should have the leading part: that the task of the lawyer was to discern what in this maritime community was the general feeling, which, among these divergent interests, is common to all; to discern also which of the various solutions is the best; to contribute to the common work his science and his experience, but that ultimately the lawyer should hold the pen and that the man of practice should dictate the solutions.”
The CMI has, since its inception in 1897, played a major leading role in driving the international harmonization of maritime law. In February 2017, the CMI entered into a formal collaboration with the Centre for Maritime Law of the National University of Singapore (CML) to create an electronic database of all the case law decisions arising from all the international conventions and protocols and other international uniform instruments sponsored by the CMI.1
The CML CMI Database of Judicial Decisions on International Conventions2 is intended to make these decisions more accessible to the worldwide maritime community, in the hope that this will foster comparative research and uniformity of interpretation of international maritime law. The database builds on the foundation laid by Professor Francesco Berlingieri in an earlier CMI Database of Jurisprudence on Maritime Conventions.3
The Database digests cases in the English language only, as the language most often used in maritime contracts and in the maritime industry globally. The Database includes PDF and other cross-references to the full case judgment, where available.
The CMI and CML have invited all national maritime law associations to make submissions to the Database in relation to the following instruments: Arrest Convention 1952/1999, Athens Convention 1974/2002,Carriage of Passengers Convention 1961, CLC Conventions 1969/1992, CMI Uniform Rules for Sea Waybills, Collision Convention 1910, Collision (Civil Jurisdiction) Convention 1952, Collision (Civil Jurisdiction / Penal jurisdiction) Conventions 1952, Fund Conventions 1971/1992, Hague Rules 1924, Hague-Visby Rules 1968, Hamburg Rules 1978, Immunity of State-Owned Ships Convention 1926, Luggage Convention 1967, LLMC 1924/1957/1976/1996, Maritime Liens and Mortgages Conventions 1926/1967/1993, Multimodal Transport Convention 1980, Rotterdam Rules 2008, Salvage Conventions 1910/1989, SUA Convention 1988, UNCLOS 1982, York-Antwerp Rules 1924/1950/1974/1994/2004/2016, Lisbon Rules 1987.
Judicial decisions on International Conventions from 844 jurisdictions can be found in the database. Not a single judicial decision of any Russian court on an International Convention is available. The Russian Maritime Law Association (RUMLA) shall contribute to the unification of maritime law by making submissions to the Database. ■
