The History of Admiralty & Maritime Law: From Ancient Rhodes to the Port of Houston
Maritime law is older than almost any law still in use. Long before the United States existed, sailors, merchants, and shipowners needed rules for what happens when a voyage goes wrong: who pays when cargo is thrown overboard to save the ship, who cares for a sailor injured at sea, and who answers when a vessel is lost. The answers they worked out centuries ago still shape what an injured offshore worker can recover today.
The Ancient Roots: Rhodes and the General Average
The earliest known maritime code is traditionally traced to the island of Rhodes, a dominant sea power of the ancient Mediterranean, as early as around 900 BC. Roman law preserved one Rhodian principle that survives to this day: the doctrine of general average. If cargo had to be sacrificed to save the ship, every merchant with goods aboard shared the loss proportionally. The idea that the risks of a voyage are shared, and that those who profit from a ship owe duties to those aboard it, runs straight through to modern doctrines like maintenance and cure.
Medieval Sea Codes and the English Admiralty Courts
Tradition holds that Eleanor of Aquitaine helped bring organized sea law to Western Europe in the 12th century, drawing on codes she encountered in the eastern Mediterranean during the Second Crusade with King Louis VII. The resulting Rolls of Oléron became the foundation of maritime law across Atlantic Europe, including one rule injured seamen still rely on: a mariner hurt in the service of his ship was owed care and keep until he recovered. England later developed specialized admiralty courts to hear disputes of the sea, which is why American lawyers still use the words “admiralty” and “maritime” interchangeably.
Maritime Law Comes to America
The U.S. Constitution extended federal judicial power to “all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction” from the beginning, and Congress has been legislating for sailors ever since. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, known as the Jones Act, gave injured seamen the right to sue their employers for negligence. The Longshore & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act followed in 1927 for dock and harbor workers. The Death on the High Seas Act covers families of those lost far from shore. Each statute answered the same ancient question: who bears the cost when the sea takes something from a worker?
The Modern Era: Still Being Written
Maritime law did not stop evolving in 1927. The Supreme Court defined the modern seaman test in Chandris, Inc. v. Latsis (1995). The Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010 forced a reckoning in offshore safety regulation and produced some of the largest maritime litigation in history. And courts are now deciding how the old doctrines apply to new industries, from ROV technicians to offshore wind crews. The law of the sea is three thousand years old and still being written, sometimes in Houston courtrooms, in cases like the ones we bring.
Why the History Matters to an Injured Worker Today
Because maritime law developed separately from land law for three thousand years, it still works differently. Different courts, different deadlines, different remedies, and doctrines like unseaworthiness and maintenance and cure that have no equivalent in state personal injury law. That is why an injured seaman or offshore worker needs a Houston maritime lawyer rather than a generalist: the law that governs your case was written over centuries, and the companies on the other side hire lawyers who know it. So should you. Call Arnold & Itkin at (888) 493-1629">(888) 493-1629 for a free consultation.
