Admiralty Law

2-3 Credit Hours

Admiralty law covers a wide range of subjects. This course will provide an introduction to several of the most important: carriage of goods; personal injuries to maritime workers; arrest of ships and maritime liens. This course will emphasize multi-party litigation and choice of law, themes that permeate admiralty law and m any other branches of the law. If you have not taken a course in conflicts of law, do not be concerned. No prior background in choice of law is necessary for this course, which will include a full orientation to choice of law in an international setting. For our class meetings, you will read selected cases, statutes, and other texts, and you will consider assigned problems, which we shall discuss in the class meetings. For some of these problems, you will be asked to submit a brief written response before the class session that takes up the problem. I'll ask you to purchase a modestly priced statutory supplement to one of the leading casebooks, but the other materials will be provided on-line. Your final grade will be based on class participation, the short written assignments, and a final exam. The final exam will consist of one or two problems similar in scope to the problems considered in the class sessions. As an alternative to a final exam, you can write a paper on a topic and in a format to be mutually agreed upon between you and me. Students who choose the paper option may satisfy the graduation writing requirement with professor's permission.