Greece

Abstract

Abstract A maritime country of ancient standing, Greece was also the birthplace of the first regulations on maritime labour. The initial compilations of the classical era, as amended by relevant decrees of the Byzantine emperors, soon evolved into a corpus of customary rules which, moderated by local usage and business practices, continued to cover the field until fairly recently. Eventually, the private law issues of maritime trade were codified by Law 3816/1958 in a Code of Private Maritime Law, later complemented by the Code of Public Maritime Law, ratified by Legislative Decree 187/1973. Both enactments have been subsequently repeatedly amended and supplemented by a plethora of presidential decrees and ministerial decisions issued upon legislative authorization contained in the Codes.4 Yet the traditional customary self-regulation of the industry has not been eliminated altogether: the employment contract signed by the seafarer remains the basic instrument for the determination of the seafarer’s rights and obligations.