Research On Improving Of Procedures Of Limitation Of Liability For Maritime Claims Of China

Limitation of liability for maritime claims is important to the responsible party including the owner of the ship in a maritime accident. It is often regulated by law that if the responsible party wants to limit his liability he needs to accord with a legal procedure. So a perfect procedure of limitation of liability for maritime claims is a guarantee for the protection of the benefits of the responsible party.Special Maritime Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China has provided the procedure for the responsible party to constitute the limitation fund, the procedure for the claiments to registrate their claims and the procedure to distribute the limitation fund. But there are no complete procedures for the limitation of liability for maritime claims in it. This makes the judgement of maritime cases inconvenient. So there is theoretical controversy in this area.By introducing the international and other countries' related laws, the writer compares the procedure of limitation of liability for maritime claims of China with them to conclude the merits and the defects of the Special Maritime Procedure Law of China. And through the analysis of the nature of the procedure of limitation of liability for maritime claims, the writer draws the conclusion that to regulate a complete procedure of limitation of liability for maritime claims in Chinese law is necessary. Meanwhile, in this article the writer shows the problems in existing Special Maritime Procedure Law of China, and contacting with the civil law and the civil procedure law, the writer also raises own opinions. At last, the writer puts forward some legislative suggestions and hopes to work out a better way for the judgement of the case of the limitation of liability for maritime claims.