The Concept of Shipwreck among National and International Law

This article aims to investigate the juridical concept of “shipwreck”. Italian law does not provide a legal definition of shipwreck (“relitto”) although the explanatory memorandum on Maritime Code states that the wreckage of a vessel implies an “intervened substantial modification of the physical consistence of the res”; French law specifies that “L’état d’épave résulte de la non-flottabilité, de l’absence d’équipage à bord et de l’inexistence de mesures de garde et de manoeuvre” while, on the contrary, English law classifies wrecks in “jetsam”, “floatsam”, “lagan” and “derelicts”, giving relevance to the abandonment of the vessel sine spe recuperandi and sine animo revertendi. The significance and combination of objective criteria (physical stranding, sinking, submersion or destruction of the ship) and subjective criteria (abandonment of the ship without the intention to return and resume the possession) will be examined in order to determine what a shipwreck is from a legal point of view; in particular the analysis will focus on the concept of non-buoyancy and perishing of the ship (derived from the Latin notion of interitus rei) and on the notion of “abandonment”. Furthermore the article will consider the definitions of shipwreck given by international conventions on Maritime Law, such as the International Convention on Salvage (1989), the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks (2007) and the Unesco Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001), comparing the broader classifications of shipwreck included in those treaties with the national definitions. In light of the aforementioned analysis, the conclusion will consider if it is possible to individuate the lowest common denominator and some basic elements of a truly international (and, possibly, universal) definition of “shipwreck”.