ABSTRACT
Part 1 was largely unchanged. By the 1980s there arose a call for a complete overhaul of the registration system that was becoming increasingly anachronistic. Under the old law, vessels could be registered as ‘‘British ships’’ not only in the United Kingdom but also in the few remaining Dependent Territories,17 even though local maritime administrations often had no effective means of enforcing the international maritime Conventions that were applicable to those vessels.18 Because registration was a right, rather than a privilege, Registrars in Dependent Territories were unable to refuse to register vessels that they considered to be unsafe or substandard. To avoid the development of a two-tier system of British registers, there was a clear need for the devolvement of a Maritime Administration for certain of the Dependent Territories to enable those countries to take responsibility for the British ships registered locally. In March 1984, the Department of Transport issued a consultative document entitled ‘‘Proposals for legislation on ship registration and other matters’’. This paper drew attention to the need to modernise the law relating to ship registration, to improve jurisdiction over United Kingdomregistered vessels and to improve the safety standards on board those vessels registered in the Dependent Territories. After consultations by the Department, the legislation introduced in 1988 brought about the most fundamental change in ship registration law since 1894.
