The role of sailing and leisure navigation in the codification process of maritime law (in the framework of the Spanish Maritime Navigation Law of 2014)

Abstract

The law of leisure navigation is difficult to place. When the process of codification of maritime law is approached, questions arise on how to treat this area of the law. The reason for this can be found in the fact that the law of leisure navigation does not sit ‘comfortably’ in maritime law, because the latter has been built on foundations that are alien to the former. The debate on the role that the regime of leisure navigation should occupy in the broader field of maritime law remains open. It cannot be said that there are consolidated and generally accepted ideas about it. Sports navigation is tinged with consumer law, and today few things are clear about the nature and position of this branch of the law. The law of leisure navigation is an obstacle to the codification and ordering of maritime law, as the law of consumption is an obstacle for the codification of private law. It is a manifestation of the same problem.