Salvage in the United States

Salvage Historical Definition

In maritime law. A compensation given by the maritime law for service rendered in saving property or rescuing it from impending peril on the sea or wrecked on the coast of the sea, or, in the United States, on a public navigable river or lake, where interstate or foreign commerce is carried on. (…)

Occasionally used to designate the property saved. 2 Phil. Ins. § 1488; 2 Pars. Mar. Law, 595. There are three things essential to the right to salvage:

• The peril. In order to found a title to salvage, the peril from which the property was saved must be real, not speculative merely (1 Cranch [U. S.] 1) ; but it need not be such that escape from it by any other means thkn by the aid of the salvors was impossible. It is sufficient that the peril was something extraordinary, something differing in kind and degree from the ordinary perils of navigation. 1 Curt. [U. S.] 353; 2 Curt. [U. S.] 350. All services rendered at sea to a vessel in distress are salvage services. 1 W. Rob. Adm. 174; 3 W. Rob. Adm. 71. But the peril must be present and pending, not future, contingent, and conjectural. 1 Sumn. (U. S.) 216; 3 Hagg. Adm. 344. It may arise from the sea, rocks, fire, pirates, or enemies (1 Cranch [U. S.] 1), or from the sickness or death of the crew of master (…)
• The saving. In order to give a title to salvage, the property must be effectually saved; it must be brought to some port of safety, and it must be there in a state capable of being restored to the owner, before the service can be deemed completed. 1 Sumn. (U. S.) 417; 1 W. Rob. Adm. 329, 406. It must be saved by the instrumentality of the asserted salvors, or their services must contribute in some certain degree to save it (4 Wash. C. C. [U. S.] 651; 01c. Adm. [U. S.] 462) ; though, if the services were rendered on the request of the master or owner, the salvor is entitled to salvage, though the services were slight, and the property was saved mainly by a providential act (…).
• The place. In England it has been held that the services must be rendered on the high seas, or, at least, extra corpus convitatus, in order to give the admiralty court jurisdiction to decree salvage; but in this country it is held that the district courts of the United States have jurisdiction to decree salvage for services rendered on tide waters and on the lakes or rivers where interstate or foreign commerce is carried on, although infra corpus comitatus. [1]

For other meanings of it, read Salvage in the Legal Dictionary here.

In Maritime Law: Practical Information

A reward for saving property at sea. The principle of salvage has been developed by admiralty (in U.S. law). On land, one who goes to the rescue of a neighbor’s property receives no remuneration for one’s efforts. Essentially there are three elements to a valid salvage claim:

• The ship or property must have been so imperiled that without the salvager’s aid it could not have been rescued.
• A voluntary act on the part of the salvager is essential. There must be no preexisting duty to give assistance, as there might be, for example, under a contract (in U.S. law), or as there is between a vessel and its own crew.
• The salvager must successfully save, or assist in the saving of, the property at risk.

It is interesting to note that salvage is the factor that often compels captains to remain on board their imperiled vessels, for once a ship is abandoned anyone may salvage it. If not under a preexisting duty, the salvager will thus be entitled to a bounty. Remaining on ship, the captain may be able to overcome the peril or negotiate a reasonable salvage contract. The captain may also be awaiting assistance from his or her own company, assistance he or she knows to be on the way.

(Revised by Ann De Vries)

History of Salvage in the United States

The European maritime law of “assistance” is arguably attributable to the civilian concept of negotiorum gestio, or management of the affairs of another, whereby a party who voluntarily comes to the aid of another, without any contract being concluded between them, is entitled to claim expenses he incurs in rendering the assistance, even if his intervention proves unsuccessful.

The common law, on the contrary, provided no compensation for lending a helping hand. Nevertheless, by virtue the “Good Samaritan doctrine”, a volunteer coming to the aid of another was relieved of liability for harm caused through his fault or negligence to the party assisted, as long as the helper did not act recklessly or rashly.

English Admiralty law took a position different from both the civil and the common law in respect of salvage. The Admiralty Court granted salvage remuneration only where the salvor’s voluntary efforts to salve the ship and/or cargo in danger were successful. This rule was incorporated into American maritime law from the outset, as is evident from Chief Justice Marshall’s 1804 decision in Mason v. The Blaireau 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 240 at p. 266 (1804). It was also enshrined in the Salvage Convention 1910 (to which the U.S. did become party), which, although it referred to both salvage and assistance (art. 1), in effect plumped for the English rule in providing that no remuneration was due if the services rendered had no “beneficial result” (art. 2).

The 1989 Salvage Convention successfully joins the common law “no cure/no pay” principle with the civilian principle of assistance, in respect of pollution damage. While art. 12(1) and (2) still requires a “useful result” as the basic condition of payment of a salvage reward, art. 14 on “special compensation” permits a salvor to recover 130%, or in some cases even 200%, of his expenses reasonably incurred in salving a vessel which, by itself or its cargo, threatened to damage the environment, even if he fails to salve any part of the ship and cargo. The salvage operations must, however, have “prevented or minimized damage to the environment” (art. 14(2)). The U.K., Canada and the U.S. are now party to the Salvage Convention 1989, so that there is (perhaps) the beginning of a modern ius commune in this area, which, as regards salvage of polluting vessels, combines common law “no cure/no pay” with civilian assistance.

Moreover, virtually all jurisdictions grant a maritime lien for salvage. The lien is also recognized at art. 20 of the 1989 Convention, so that there is now a distinctly international maritime law in this important domain. In the United States, the lien has long been recognized (see, for example, The Sabine 101 U.s. 384 (1879)).

Once again, however, true to its civilian Admiralty heritage, the United States codifies that lien in the Commercial Instruments and Maritime Liens Act (46 U.S. Code sect. 31301(5)(F), conferring “preferred maritime lien” status on claims for salvage, including contract salvage), as does France in its Law no. 67-5 of January 3, 1967, at art. 31(4). The United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, on the other hand, lacking a codified lien law, must rely on jurisdictional rules (see Supreme Court Act 1981, U.K. 1981, c. 54, sect. 20(2)(j) and 21(3); Federal Court Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. F-7, sect. 22(2)(j) and 43(2)), coupled with judicial precedents, as sources of their salvage lien.

No cure/no pay in salvage

English and American maritime law traditionally granted a reward for salvage only where the salvor’s exertions produced some useful result (i.e. where the ship and/or its cargo had been preserved from danger in whole or in part by the salvor’s voluntary efforts) (see in the U.S. The Blackwall 77 U.S. (10 Wall.) 1 at p. 12 (1869); W. Tetley, Maritime Liens and Claims, 2 Ed., 1998 at p. 348 and other decisions cited there). This requirement for success as a condition of remuneration originated in the common law “no cure/no pay” principle incorporated into English maritime law, and differed from the more liberal Continental rule of assistance, rooted in civilian negotiorum gestio. “No cure/no pay” remains the fundamental rule of salvage under art. 12(1) and (2) of the 1989 Salvage Convention, although art. 14 on “special compensation” for pollution-related expenses partly reintroduces civilian assistance into modern international salvage law.

As the foregoing review shows, a blend of civil and common law rules and principles informs and enriches American maritime law, making it truly a “mixed legal system” of great efficiency and dynamism at the end of the twentieth century. [2]

Resources

Notice

1. This definition of Salvage is based on The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary.
2. By William Tetley, Q.C.