Report No. 151

5.8. Major International Conventions.-

The major International Conventions governing merchant shipping during peace have been admirably treated under the following five principal sections in Volume VIII of "BRITISH SHIPPING LAWS":

(a) Technical and Operational Conventions.

(b) Employment, Welfare and Status of Seamen.

(c) Unification of Private Maritime Law.

(d) Law of the Sea; Land-locked States, Ports, Canals and Straits.

(e) International Organisations concerning Merchant Shipping.

Needless to say that the treaty law today in the context of merchant shipping has become all important in the regulation of inter-state relations. Merchant shipping today is largely regulated by bipartite agreements, multilateral treaties and international conventions which could not be found in the national Code of any flag State which concerns itself with municipal legislation's, including those international instruments whose ratification made municipal enactment.