Study On The Tortious Liability Of Maritime Salvor

The system of Maritime Salvage has emerged with the development of maritime transportation business. Historically, the system has played a positive role in minimizing losses incurred through the perils of sea and promoting marine transportation business. However, with regard to the salvor held responsible for the tortious liability, legislations of various countries and the international conventions are still not perfect and scholars have not yet yielded systematic results about it, causing non-uniform of these countries in practice. Thus, a thorough research on this problem is quite necessary. Based on the present conditions of the international conventions and the legislation of our country, the author of the thesis studies the issues concerning the tortious liability of the salvor through approaches of comparative analysis, historical analysis and unitary analysis. This paper is divided into five parts.Chapter One mainly introduces the theoretical basis of the salvor undertaking the tortuous liability. The author gives a comprehensive presentation of the"no cure, no pay"theory,"more harm than good"principle and the fault liability system and further makes comparisons of the advantages and disadvantages of these theories by historical and comparative analysis; synchronically, this paper introduces and analyses the relevant provisions of the international conventions and the maritime legislations of Britain and China. The historical development of the responsibility rule of the tortious liability of the salvor is briefly reviewed by historical analysis in Chapter Two. The author of the thesis studies the drawbacks of the rule of"Gross negligence"and the rationality of its transition to the rule of"General negligence". In view of the lack of such provisions of our country, some suggestions are made.Chapter Three is the core of the paper. The constitutive requirements of the tortious liability of the salvor are systematically discussed. The author emphasizes that the salvor's act which causes damage is not necessarily illegal; with regard to the salvor's negligence, the author holds that tolerance shall be given to the salvor for the purpose of encouraging salvage and the"General negligence"shall be preferably employed to better balance the mutual interests of the salvor and the salvee; furthermore, the author fully expounds the determination from both the factual and the legal perspectives and systematically analyzes all the factors which affect the causality.Chapter Four discusses the principles and the calculating standards of the damages. As of the principles of the damages, some theories in the law of torts are used for reference; due to the legislation vacuum and controversies in practice, the author believes that the amount of the compensation shall be determined by both adhering to the three rules and taking into account the ultimate result of the salvage and the actual circumstances.Chapter Five mainly focuses on the restriction of the tortious liability of the salvor, whether one may enjoy the restriction right and the corresponding significance. The author explores the issue of the restriction of the oil pollution liability of the salvor and the issue of the selection of salvation methods, both of which are not prescribed in the 1976 Convention. The International Conventions are suggested to acknowledge the restriction right so as to protect the interests of the salvor. Personal opinions are put forward on the calculation of the liability restriction according to different methods of salvation.