Consolato del Mare

The code was applied by merchant consular courts in ports such as Barcelona, Valencia and Majorca. It set rules on ship ownership shares, the duties of masters and crew, payment of freight, damage to cargo, jettison and contribution, and the treatment of enemy and neutral cargo in wartime. It had no central enforcement and was applied as custom by local maritime tribunals around the Mediterranean. It has no legal force today but influenced later national maritime codes and prize law.

The Consolato del Mare shows that core rules of today's freight contracts, such as freight payment, cargo care and loss sharing, are centuries old. Merchants used specialist commercial courts to settle shipping disputes quickly, a model echoed by modern maritime arbitration. For example, London and New York maritime arbitration clauses in charter parties continue the practice of letting trade specialists decide cargo disputes. Its jettison and contribution rules feed directly into the York-Antwerp Rules applied to container ships.

• Hanseatic League1356–1669 · German towns dominate Baltic and North Sea trade
• First Known Marine Insurance Contract1347 · A Genoese policy insures a ship bound for Majorca
• Venetian Arsenalc. 1104 · Venice builds galleys from standardized parts

• Lex Rhodia de Iactu533, in Justinian's Digest · Ancient rule of jettison behind general average
• York-Antwerp Rules1890, latest version 2016 · International rules for adjusting general average
• Hague Rules1924, in force 1931 · 1924 treaty on ocean carrier bill of lading liability

1. Consolato del Mare, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org