Medieval Maritime Law from Oléron to Wisby: Jurisdictions in the Law of the Sea
By Edda Frankot
Communities in European History: Representations, Jurisdictions, Conflicts, edited by Juan Pan-Montojo and Frederik Pedersen (Pisa University Press, 2007)
Abstract: This chapter explores the history of medieval maritime law and its practice in Northern Europe. It argues that, contrary to the historiography, a common supra-territorial law of the sea did not exist in the Middle Ages in this region. Instead, Northern Europe was split up into several local, regional and national jurisdictions, each of which used varying laws. The chapter starts with an overview of written maritime laws from the Rôles d’Oléron to the Wisby Sea Law. Subsequently, the availability of these laws in five Northern European towns (Lübeck, Reval, Danzig, Kampen and Aberdeen) is examined, as well as their actual use in the town courts. In the final section, the administration of maritime justice is tackled. In this section, it is put forward that a common medieval law of the sea was an impossibility due to the absence of a supra-territorial jurisdiction which could implement such a law.
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Tags: Law, Maritime Studies
