A Study On The Attribute Of Chinese Shipping Law

The traditional classification standards of Chinese legal department abide by the following practices:the adjustment objects of laws are the main part and the adjustment methods of laws are the subsidiary one. Economic law is an independent department law in the Chinese legal system with characteristics of socialism. The adjustment objects of economic law are the specific economic relations occurring in the process of state’s economy regulation, and the adjustment methods of economic law are the interventions to market economy through which the government exerts public rights. Shipping law does not appear until the development of social economy and shipping industry reach a certain stage. It is the result of the contradictory movement between the economic basis and superstructure and so it is historical and inevitable. According to the following facts that shipping market is the dominating factor in the whole shipping elements and the situation of lack of shipping market economy legislation in the system of shipping law in China, the adjustment objects of shipping law should be the specific economic relations which formulated from the state’s intervention on shipping market and those which are from the results of the state’s coordination among elements of the shipping industry and those which are from the connections between the whole shipping industry and other related industries in national economy. The shipping administrations mainly use the power endowed by the laws to supervise the shipping market on the two levels of the macro-control and regulations of the shipping market. So, shipping law belongs to the department of economic law whether it is judged from the perspective of adjustment objects of shipping law or from the perspective of adjustment methods. According to the latest research results of the theories of economic law categories and the combination of the characteristics of shipping market economy, the footstone categories of shipping law are the interests of the whole national shipping economy. The study of the system of shipping law shall adopt the basic approach of "subjects-behaviors-liabilities". The system of basic categories of shipping law shall include the subject category, behavior category and liability category, which constitute a basic logical starting point of shipping law research. In combination with the latest theories of the two intervening methods of micro and macro markets from the state in market economy and the principles of market regulations of economic laws and laws of macro-control, this paper argues that the basic legal system of shipping law shall include the specific contents of subjects, behaviors and liabilities. With a comprehensive investigation and analysis of the current situations and the existing problems of the shipping law in China, this paper attempts to put forward legislative proposals of how to establish a perfect shipping law system in China and how to formulate the basic contents of "The Shipping Act of the People’s Republic of China" in future.