Research On The Legal Liability Of Ship Allision In Sea Trail

Ship allision in sea trail is a special legal issue. Firstly, ship in sea trail is capable of moving but without certificate of seaworthiness, whether this kind of ship could be adjusted by Chinese Maritime Code (CMC) is a controversial problem. Secondly, ship in sea trail has higher potential risk and more restricted condition, and the injured party in ship allision is fixed, all of these make the principle of imputation of the ship allision in sea trail be much different from the common ship collision or allision. Thirdly, sea trail is in the special stage which is between construction complete and the delivery of vessel, it is not clear that the liability party is shipbuilder or buyer. Lastly, the view of whether the ship in sea trail is entitled to enjoy the limitation of liability for maritime claims (LLMC) is not uniform. To against above problems, this paper carry out a series of research on the legal liability of ship allision in sea trail.Except the parts of Introduction and Conclusion, this paper is divided into 4 parts.Chapter 1 introduces some basic questions of ship allision in sea trial, including the concept, content and characteristics of sea trial, the concept and constitution of ship allision, the application of law on ship allision in sea trial. By comparing the vessel in sea trial and sea going vessel under CMC, it mainly analyzes whether ship allision in sea trial can apply to CMC.Chapter 2 is based on introducing the principle of imputation in tort law, analyzing Chinese juridical practice and academic viewpoints on the principle of imputation of ship allision in sea trial, while combining with the features of ship allision and sea trial, it proposes the principle of imputation which ship allision in sea trial should apply to.Chapter 3 analyzes three basic principles of identifying the liability parties of maritime tort and relevant legislative regulation on the liability parties of ship allision in accordance with national law firstly. Guided by the basic principles and legislative regulation, it then analyzes the possibility that ship yard and buyer assume the tort liability as the ship owner and ship manager. Finally, it introduces two special liability parties in practice, the sea trial company and pilotage institution.Chapter 4 analyzes the purpose of legislation and formality of LLMC, discusses whether the vessels, liability parties, claims subject to limitation and the calculation of liability limits in ship allision in sea trial accord with the conditions of limitation of liability for maritime claims, and elaborates the significance of vesting the liability parties with the authority of limiting their liabilities.