Informa Professional

To view the Maritime TV interview with author John A. C. Cartner please click here


The International Law of the Shipmaster is endorsed by the Council of American Master Mariners www.mastermariner.org







"For the legal practitioner, this book is a unique and invaluably time saving survey of the law affecting the shipmaster across a range of jurisdictions worldwide, all logically set out in one convenient volume.
Not only is this a unique source of reference for lawyers and the courts, as well as ship masters themselves, the insights it provides constitute an invaluable aid to decision making for ship managers and operators, not to mention risk managers.
The book’s publication date is September 2009.  No doubt it will be updated as the years pass.  We believe it is destined to become a classic work in maritime and shipping law."
An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers
Click here for the full review
Click here for a YouTube video review

“The authors have done an incredible job of making the previously unexplainable coherent to the ship's master and laymen, even providing maritime lawyers with a handy reference guide”
“Many lawyers/ authors would have shied away from the positions taken regarding difficult areas of the law to define and ultimately predict. By their strong opinions, the authors have given the "person on the spot" something to fall back on and rely upon. Well done.”
“The International Law of the Shipmaster should be considered as much a ship's bible as the Rules of the Road and Bowditch on Navigation. It is my opinion that unless this treatise is found on the bridge in the ship's library behind her two radars, the vessel is unseaworthy. Shipmaster should also be a part of each owner's, insurer's, cargo interest's, agent's, etc., library, not to mention every serious maritime law office in the world.”
Jeff Mudgett, co-founder and former editor of The Maritime Executive, May/June 2010
Click here for the full review

"A book like this is something of an event in our industry. It deserves a careful reading from people in the industry for it puts flesh on the bones of many truths of the modern era: that the shipmaster in sole charge has to wrestle with a lot of issues, jurisdictions and people, sometimes in conditions of unenviable solitude."
"Readers who visit its chapters will do so again and again for it is by no means easy to overfly and many of the satisfactions of reading the work come from the careful consideration of sources and the discussion of sources."
Sam Ignarski, Editor, Bow Wave WavyLine.com, Issue No. 538 15 MAR 10
Click here for the full review

"This is an awesome guide to the master's standing in law, and will give those who have dealings with him/her an understanding of the currents swirling around in any decisions made."
Richard Clayton, Fairplay, March 2010, Vol. 368, Issue 6572

"If you buy one book this year for your professional library it should be The International Law of the Shipmaster by John A. C. Cartner, R. P. Fiske and T. Leiter [www.shipmasterlaw.com]. I am not alone in my enthusiasm for this remarkable book. Another reviewer even called it ‘awesome,’ an adjective rarely – if ever – used for a law book.
....a book which should be of great interest and utility to every master, owner, government agency, vendor, crewing agency, union, financier, insurer, pilot or anyone else who has business with the shipmaster in the oceanic trades. I heartily and enthusiastically recommend the book. You will use it regularly and frequently."
Vince Reuter, J.D., LL.M., Sidelights, June 2010
See the full book review for more details.

"International Law of the Shipmaster is a comprehensive review of the laws and regulations governing the shipmaster including customary law, case law, statutory law, treaty law and regulatory law. The book is the only source between two covers which surveys the laws of the shipmaster of all IMO member states, and others by state, for practitioner, court, trainer, master, owner, charterer, shipper, insurer and any person interested in the shipmaster in law."
See the full book review for more details.

This book provides:
• A brief history and survey of the international law affecting the shipmaster
• Certification, nationality and taxation requirements for the master in 179 jurisdictions
• Comparison of regimes of law of agency for shipmasters, crews across jurisdictions
• Examination of shipmaster duties and liabilities and penalties in all IMO member states

Table of contents:

1. Introduction to the Shipmaster
2. Overview of International Law Affecting the Shipmaster
3. Domestic Laws and the Shipmaster
4. International Organizations Affecting the Shipmaster
5. Conventions and Treaties Relevant to the Shipmaster
6. Jurisdiction and the Shipmaster
7. The Private and Statutory Authority of the Shipmaster.
8. The Master and the Shipowner
9. Limitations of Liability
10. The Flag State
11. The Vessel and Seaworthiness
12. Labour
13. Cargo and Charterers
14. Third Parties not Aboard
15. The Voyage
16. Innocent Passage
17. The Port State
18. The Environment
19. Piracy, Stowaways, Other Trespassers, Contraband
20. Security of the Vessel, Cargo and Those Aboard
21. Naval and Civil Authority
22. The Master and Criminal Laws

About the Authors:

John A. C. Cartner holds the Coast Guard's license as a master of steam and motor vessels unlimited as to waters or tonnage.  He has sailed as master and practices maritime and admiralty law domestically and internationally.  He holds a Ph.D. in quantitative methods. 
Richard P. Fiske is a retired naval captain, formerly Supervisor of Salvage of the U. S. Navy, and practices maritime and admiralty law. 
Tara L. Leiter is admitted to practice in the U.S. (District of Columbia and Alabama) and holds the Master of International Maritime Law degree from the IMO International Maritime Law Institute, Malta. Ms. Leiter practises corporate and international maritime law.

This book is part of the Maritime and Transport Law Library.

Please visit http://shipmasterlaw.com for futher information on this title

Product Menu

• Book Review