The third edition of this law school casebook, like the first two, focuses on modern admiralty practice. The selected cases and materials discuss current issues faced by a maritime lawyer, in addition to the historical bases of those issues. This third edition includes new and significant cases decided since the second edition was published, including cases affecting vessel status, maritime contracts and punitive damages.

Pedagogically, all relevant materials are included in this one volume. The relevant statutes are placed along with the key cases in the text, so the students need only flip a page or so to get to the relevant statute. For context, a conversion chart of Title 46 is provided in an appendix.

The order of the materials in this edition have been rearranged to facilitate its use either in a shorter maritime personal injury/wrongful death course or in a full admiralty law survey course. The first ten chapters focus on admiralty jurisdiction as well as maritime personal injury and wrongful death law. The following chapters cover other aspects of maritime law, including charter parties, cargo law, maritime liens, collision, tugs, towage and pilotage, marine insurance, limitation of liability, sovereign immunity, salvage, choice of law, as well as maritime jurisdiction and procedure.