Jurisdiction In Collision At Sea

On the basis of comparison and analysis, the dissertation has studied the difference in claims for damages because of the alternation of jurisdiction. The impact of collision at sea will not be reduced though the navigation has reached an outstanding development. Unlike the liability and calculation of claims, the jurisdiction will often be difficult to settle down. According to the international practice and conventions, there will be several ways to decide which court shall have the jurisdiction over the collision cases. The court shall be the one where the defendant has his residence or business; or the one where the collision happened; or the one where the ship has been arrested; or the one that has other relationship with the collision. It will be meaningless and impossible to say which court is more suitable. For the sake of forum shopping, the court where the ship has been arrested will be often adopted as the one that has the jurisdiction. The purpose of choosing court is that there exist different regulations on claims. The most common reason is that the difference in limitation of liability. Some countries apply the 1957 LIMITATION CONVENTION while others apply the 1976 LIMITATION CONVENTION. In addition, the United States applies a totally different limitation system in which the ship owner's liability is limited as no more than the value of the ship adding the freight. Obviously, different jurisdiction will bring different limitation that can protect the ship owner.There is not a single standard in the regulation of package limitation and the transference of money. When a collision take place, which have done damages to the cargo, the ship owner can ask for package limitation, and ask for limitation of liability if the amount of package limitation adding other claims more than the limitation of liability. Claims for loss of life or personal injury differs from country to country. In China, the compensation of spiritual loss shall be put more emphasis on in the future.The law of arresting of ship, the timing of an action, the chance to win, the background of the court staff, the introduction of force majeure, and some political factors will also do effect to the result of an collision case.By showing the significant contrast in the respect mentioned above, the dissertation reveals the importance of the jurisdiction in collisions at sea and hope to make some useful suggestions to protect our Chinese ships and citizens that may be involved in collision cases.