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• Insurance law
• Marine insurance law
• Maritime law
• Law and technology

The Lex Maritima: Theory and Practice

The foundation of the regulatory regime regarding maritime commercial activities was not laid down by positive law but instead by merchant customary rules (codified or uncodified customs and usages) and practices. The process of evolution can be viewed as being from the bottom-up rather than from the top-down. However, unlike positive law, this bottom-up evolution of the maritime regulatory regime has received very little scholarly analysis. Inspired by the arguments in favour of the lex mercatoria, some maritime scholars are now arguing for the existence of the lex maritima, in order to demonstrate the maritime industry’s unique self-regulation.

However, due to the rather primitive state of research on this subject, the ‘lex maritima’ is misleading because it has never been properly defined. Contemporary research on this subject has been limited to its role as an instrument of interpretation used by courts or arbitrators to interpret the provisions of business contracts or to define professional responsibility in tort cases. The most significant aspect of the lex maritima as a private, rule-making instrument and a self-regulatory system has been neglected and, consequently, numerous crucial issues have been missed by contemporary maritime law scholars.

Feng's research will remedy the lack of contemporary research on the lex maritima and will re-visit this long-neglected and misunderstood private, order-making system. By answering fundamental questions, such as the necessity for the lex maritima, its theoretical framework and its practical application, my research will endeavour to prove the existence of the lex maritima as a self-regulatory system.