ABSTRACT
Maritime jurisdiction is largely prescribed by law and the interpretations or directions promulgated the Supreme People's Court (SPC). Under Chinese law, jurisdiction in civil litigation means the division of work and power among courts at different levels and courts at the same level to entertain cases at first instance. Maritime courts are treated as a special people's court, which is similar to other special courts such as military courts. Each of the maritime courts divides themselves up according to their first instance territorial jurisdiction, and the locations that they are in. It should be noted that in order to establish the extended jurisdiction, the dispute in question may not be one which is subject to any exclusive jurisdiction, agreed jurisdiction or arbitration. Hierarchical jurisdiction refers to the division of authority between maritime courts and the courts of higher levels for accepting the maritime cases of first instance.
