Report No. 151

2.7. Unsatisfactory State of the law.-

The above brief historical background makes it abundantly clear that the state of the Indian law in this branch of jurisprudence is unsatisfactory. The jurisdiction of courts to deal with admiralty matters need to be more precisely defined. The various statutes in existence on different aspects of maritime law need to be reviewed and appropriately amended. The common law, as well as the judge made law, as projected in precedents, need to be analysed and, where necessary, codified.

The various international agreements, protocols and conventions to which India is a party or signatory or assenting State have to be compiled and consolidated. There is much ground work to be done for making this branch of the law upto date and bringing it in line with the international rules and conventions and developments in other countries. No doubt, in India, the statutory law regulating the shipping is contained in the Shipping Act, 1958, but it does not deal with the admiralty jurisdiction.