Jurisdiction (admiralty).

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Author: Unknown

The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, when it hit an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. Searchers discovered the wreck in 1985, about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.

Applying principles of jus gentium, a Virginia district court in 1994 granted R.M.S. Titanic (RMST), a Florida corporation, exclusive salvage rights in the Titanic. The court later enjoined other parties from interfering with RMST's rights.

One of the enjoined parties was Deep Ocean Expeditions (DOE), a British Virgin Islands corporation, which had planned to view and photograph the Titanic. Christopher Haver had arranged to be a paying guest during DOE's project.

DOE and Haver appealed objecting, among other things, to the court's jurisdiction over the wreck and the wreck site, and argued that the scope of the injunction was too broad. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirms in part and reverses in part.

The special issue in this case is whether a court in admiralty can enforce these salvage rights with respect to property not within its jurisdiction (or within the jurisdiction of any admiralty court). If the res is outside the territorial limits of the U.S., the court normally cannot exercise in rem jurisdiction over it. Here, the district court creatively applied "constructive in rem" jurisdiction based on the physical presence of some recovered items from the Titanic within the court's jurisdiction.

Even though no nation has sovereignty over the high seas, there is enforceable law. The law of salvage is part of the jus gentium which applies to the high seas. Therefore the district court correctly barred the persons over which it had jurisdiction from interfering with RMST's salvage effort.

"But we hasten to point out, again, that the power of an American court to enforce such orders is effectively limited until persons and property are brought within its territorial jurisdiction. These are the limits that any court faces, regardless of the nation involved. Shared rights to the high seas may be exercised by all nations, and the assertion by any nation of exclusive sovereignty over a portion would interfere with those rights."

"This notion of 'shared sovereignty' does not, however, preclude all nations from enforcing the internationally recognized laws of salvage in courts with respect to persons and property within their jurisdiction, nor even from exercising this form of shared sovereignty for matters on the high seas. If we were to recognize an absolute limit to the district court's power that would preclude it, or essentially any other admiralty court, from exercising judicial power over wrecks in international waters, then we would be abdicating the order created by the jus gentium and would return the high seas to a state of lawlessness never experienced ..." [Slip op. 59]

The Court, however, interprets salvage law as allowing third parties to view and photograph the sunken wreck in international waters. Therefore, other parties may approach the wreck as long as their activity constitutes neither a salvage effort nor an interference with RMST's salvage rights.

Citation: R.M.S. Titanic, Inc., v. Haver, No. 98-1934 (4th Cir. March 24, 1999).