About The CMI Lex Maritima

In 2025, the Comité Maritime International (CMI) approved the first-ever compilation of the fundamental, universally accepted principles of maritime law.

The new instrument gives concrete form to a long-standing belief in the existence of a global, but hitherto unwritten, lex maritima.

The existence of a form of lex maritima (‘the general maritime law’ or ‘the law maritime’) has long been recognised in the case law of common law countries. An increasing number of countries with a civil law tradition refer to the lex maritima (or parts thereof) as a source of law in their codes and statutes. Contemporary promoters and researchers include William Tetley, James Allsop, Massimiliano Rimaboschi, Andreas Maurer and Eric Van Hooydonk. However, before 2025, no formulation of the principles of lex maritima was available.

The CMI Lex Maritima consists of 5 preliminary Rules and 25 substantive Principles that cover all the main themes of maritime law.

The Principles have been formulated on the basis of thorough comparative law research. The document contains detailed references to the sources on which the Principles are based.

The CMI Lex Maritima is a soft law instrument approved by the CMI, the worldwide umbrella association of maritime law practitioners. It is based on extensive comparative law research.

The CMI instrument does not aim to change positive maritime law, but only to supplement it.

The CMI Lex Maritima is a small but functional keystone that so far has been missing from an already solid structure of streamlined transnational maritime law.

The CMI is a global umbrella organisation for national maritime law associations, and was founded in 1897 as a Belgian initiative aimed at promoting the international unification of maritime law. The CMI has prepared numerous unification conventions, which governments formalised during diplomatic conferences in Brussels. The CMI is still based in Antwerp, the second-largest port in Europe.