The maritime law of the Baltic Sea

Summary

ABSTRACT. Before the end of the 13^th century, the Baltic seamen created a law system codified in Bjarkey and Söderköping and then in Schleswig laws. The increasing Germanic domination of Baltic navigation resulted in the creation of specific maritime laws for Lübeck and Hamburg before the introduction of the Laws of Oleron translated into Low German to form the Vonesse von Damme, the international law that was recognized and applied in the closest port to the place where the legal problem arose.

RÉSUMÉ. Avant la fin du XIII^e siècle, les hommes de mer en Baltique s'étaient donné un système de lois codifiées dans les lois de Bjarkey et de Söderköping, puis de Schleswig. La progressive domination germanique sur la navigation en Baltique a pour conséquence la création de lois maritimes propres à Lübeck et à Hambourg, avant l'introduction des Rôles d'Oléron, traduits en bas-allemand pour former le Vonesse von Damme, loi internationale qui s'impose et s'applique dans le port le plus proche du lieu où le problème juridique s'est posé.

SHIPPING IN THE BALTIC SEA

The development of maritime law in the Baltic Area is deeply rooted in the development of shipping in this area as such. Different forms of shipping organisation, differences in the make-up of the crew as well as differences in the kind of trade had an impact on the development of law.

Seen under this light, the development of maritime law in our modern understanding started with the invention of the sail in this area approximately in the 7^th or 8^th century. Crews on oared ships, used in this area up to this period, had their own organisation and inner structure which certainly left traces in the later laws, but the new – and economical – possibilities offered by sailing expedited another mould of maritime law.

In the beginning there were six groups major involved in merchant sailing in the Baltic area: Scandinavians, the men of the island of Gotland, Slavs, the inhabitants of the Baltic south coast, Samis, the inhabitants of the northern part of Scandinavia, Russians and possibly Frisians from the North Sea area.