Court Rules on Salvage v. Finds

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the law of salvage rather than the law of finds applies to the on-going work related to the wreck of the RMS TITANIC. The court also overturned the lower court’s actions regarding certain artifacts that had been retrieved and taken to France in 1987, ruling that the court had no in rem jurisdiction over those artifacts. The decision includes a lengthy comparison of the law of salvage and the law of finds. The case was remanded to the trial court with instructions to apply the principles of traditional salvage law to the wreck of the TITANIC in a manner that serves either the owner or, absent an owner, the public interest and at the same time provides an appropriate award to the salvor. RMS Titanic, Inc. v. The Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel, No. 04-1933 source: HK Law