Law of salvage applies to cargo and property from ôTitanicö
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that the 'law of salvage' rather than the 'law of finds' applies to activity in and around the sunken remains of the R.M.S. 'Titanic,' which lie in international waters.
The appeals court overturned a federal district court order regarding certain artifacts that had been retrieved from the 'Titanic' and taken to France in 1987, ruling that the lower court had no jurisdiction.
The Fourth Circuit appellate panel also dismissed a claim by RMS Titanic Inc., the plaintiff in the case, that RMST should be awarded title to the artifacts recovered at the wreckage since 1993 under the law of finds.
The appeals court noted the thinking of the lower court, which said that 'simply put, RMST cannot have its cake and eat it too. RMST asks the court to apply the law of finds to artifacts already in its possession so that it can be awarded title to those artifacts, but the company wants the law of salvage to apply to the as-yet unrecovered artifacts in and surrounding the 'Titanic' wreckage so that RMST, as salvor-in-possession, can retain its exclusive right to reduce those artifacts to actual possession.'
The district court went on to say that 'the common law of finds and the maritime law of salvage, however, cannot be simultaneously applied to a shipwreck and to property recovered from that shipwreck. The doctrines serve different purposes and promote different behaviors.'
The appellate panel, in its ruling, said it agreed with the district court that the law of finds and law of salvage were different. 'The law of salvage, which has been applied to this case until now, has a favored, indeed a dignified, place within the law of nations. The law of finds, however, is a disfavored common-law doctrine rarely applied to wrecks and then only under limited circumstances.'
In sending this case back to the district court to proceed as a maritime salvage case,' we are mindful that the salvage law traditionally does not have as its object the recovery of ' wrecks for historical, archeological and cultural purposes. The ancient salvage law that has continued to this day was applied to protect the property and lives related to ships in distress,' the appeals court explained.
'We are not creating a new cause of action or a new category of salvor. Rather, we are explicitly acknowledging the application of salvage laws to historic wrecks,' it said.
Therefore, the appellate panel concluded that the lower court should 'apply the principles of traditional salvage law to the wreck of the 'Titanic' in a manner that services either the owner, or in the absence of the owner, the public interest, and at the same time provides an appropriate award to the salvor.'
The case is 'R.M.S. Titanic Inc. v. The Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel, located within one nautical mile of 41 43'32' north latitude and 49 56'49' west longitude, believed to be the RMS Titanic.' [Docket No. 04-1933; Decided Jan. 31.]