'Of Laws of Ships and Shipmen'

A comparative analysis of maritime law and its administration in five northern European towns.This volume is an important addition to the history of Scotland and European law, utilising innovative research and methodologies to highlight Scotland's position in medieval Europe as a sophisticated legal player. It places Scotland in a wider historical framework for the time and reveals the extent of its maritime connections and influence. It has often been assumed that there was a common maritime law in northern Europe, shared between skippers and merchants who conducted their business along the North Sea and Baltic littoral. This study examines this assumption by studying the dissemination of law compilations across this region, and by comparing the contents of these and the judgments passed by urban courts in cases of shipwreck, jettison and ship collision. Medieval maritime law has never before been the subject of a major study in the English language. The practice of maritime law has, up until now, largely been ignored. This book is the first to offer a comparison of maritime laws and court proceedings. It is also unique in that it provides a truly comparative history, covering a large geographical area stretching from Aberdeen on the North Sea coast to Reval (present-day Tallinn) in the innermost regions of the Baltic.