Prohibited The Application Of The Principle Of Estoppel In The Maritime

Estoppel is the important principle of legality in the Anglo-American Legal System. It takes several hundred years for the doctrine of estoppel to develop completely from its form. During the development of this doctrine, the application areas of it have been enlarged step by step with the appearance of more specific categories in estoppel. This thesis is about the application of estoppel in the area of maritime law, aiming at studying where the advantages shown in the transaction of maritime contracts and discussing the legal sense of enriching Chinese maritime law theories and carrying out the justice and equality in judical practice if the doctrine of estoppel can be applied in Chinese law.This article begins from the historical development of the estoppel, and analyses how the development of estoppel in categories came about through citing some famous cases which are significant to the forming of this doctrine, then makes clear that the major position of this doctrine in countries belonging to the Anglo-American Legal System. Soon afterwards, in the light of several categories of estoppel applied in maritime law extensively, such as estoppel by record, promissory estoppel, estoppel in pais, estoppel by deed and estoppel by convention, this article introduces the applicable constitutive requirements and applicable situations of these types of estoppel. Then this article induces the conception of estoppel, its legal feature and legal result. For the essence of the doctrine of estoppel, it means that party is prevented by his own words and acts from claiming a right to detriment of other party who was entitled to rely on such conduct and has acted accordingly, that is my word is my bond. This article also analyses the theoretical bases of estoppel which are principle of good faith and principle of justice and equality. Meanwhile, in order to understand this doctrine better, this article compares some other similar legal principles to estoppel, these principles include culpa in contrabendo of the Continental Legal System and waiver of common law.After the analysis of the basic theories of estoppel, this text begins to emphasize the application of estoppel in the particular situations of maritime law. It distinguishes from the representations made in and by the bill of lading creating an estoppel, estoppel made in charter party and estoppel in themaritime insurance to discuss the applical requirements in different situations. It also points out that the legal consequences if the questions related are resolved by Maritime Code of China. During the process of analyzing these questions, it is better to explain the flexible application of estoppel in judical act and to show the purpose of carrying out the principle of good faith, justice and equality through citing the judical precedents of foreign courts.As we known, the part contents of the Maritime Code of China refer to the international treaties and shipping customs, and this code is also affected by the common law. So, if the doctrine of estoppel was referred to the Maritime Code of China, the code would play better an important role of regulating the relations arising from maritime transport and code itself would be perfect.