ABSTRACT
The general principles of maritime business establish the background against which the essence of criminal accountability can be put into context, establishing what constitutes a crime and, crucially, how it has been applied to the Master. While criminal prosecutions have been more easily achieved by the implementation of strict liability offences, they present compelling arguments in claims of unfair treatment of Defendants. This is most clearly illustrated in the light cast by the European Convention on Human Rights, upon which the Human Rights Act 1998 is based.
