Article by Gerald E. Meunier
This Article surveys important, recent jurisprudential developments in the law of maritime personal injury and wrongful death damages. Against the backdrop of the public policy considerations which underlie and shape the recovery of such damages, the Article also focuses on the continuing and inherent tension between the two sources of maritime tort law: judge-made principles of the general maritime law, on the one hand, and statutory enactments (primarily the Jones Act and the Death on the High Seas Act), on the other.
Questions of fundamental importance arise in this discussion: Have courts in admiralty forfeited their authority under the United States Constitution by deferring to the primacy of legislation as a determinant of maritime tort damages? Moreover, will the general maritime law maintain its viability as a reflection of current social and public policy, if the mandate of uniformity in the maritime law leads to preoccupation with congressional intent? To the extent that recent Supreme Court jurisprudence is a true indicator of the trend in the law of maritime personal injury and wrongful death damages, these may be questions that confront admiralty practitioners for years to come.
About the Author
Gerald E. Meunier. Partner, Gainsburgh, Benjamin, David, Meunier & Warshaver, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Citation
72 Tul. L. Rev. 805 (1997)