China has approved the establishment of the country’s 11th maritime court in the city of Nanjing in eastern Jiangsu Province. 

Maritime courts are special courts set up to try first-hearing maritime or sea-shipping cases for the purpose of exercising judicial jurisdiction over maritime affairs. The other ten maritime courts are in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjin, Dalian, Wuhan, Haikou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Beijing.

Like in the previous ten courts, the scope of cases tried by the new court includes maritime infringement disputes, maritime contract disputes, maritime and navigable waters development and utilization and environmental protection related dispute cases, and other maritime disputes. 

Since the first maritime court was established in 1992, the ten courts so far have set up 39 tribunals in major port cities within their jurisdictions to conduct on-site hearings. According to Chan Yang, presiding judge of the Shanghai Maritime Court, “this has formed specialized maritime adjudication infrastructure covering every port and the entire territorial waters of China, from Heilongjiang River in the north to the islands of Xisha, Zhongsha, Nansha and Huangyan Isle in the south.”

南京海事法院获批 将成为中国第11家海事法院

近日，中国第11家海事法院：南京海事法院正式获批。

海事法院是为行使海事司法管辖权而设立的专门审判一审海事、海商案件的专门人民法院。我国目前分別在广州、上海、青岛 、天津、大连、武汉、海口、廈门、宁波、北京设立了10个海事法院。

海事法院的受理案件范围包括海事侵权纠纷案件、海事合同纠纷案件、海洋及通海可航水域开发利用与环境保护相关纠纷案件、其他海事海商纠纷案件等。

自1992年首个海事法院设立以来，最高院先后在10个沿海港口城市设立了海事法院、39个派出法庭。上海海事法院法官杨婵出席了2018年12月在韩国首尔召开的2018年国际司法会议并在演讲中提到，“从北部的黑龙江省到南部海南省的西沙群岛 、中沙群岛、南沙群岛以及黄岩岛，这些海事法院覆盖了中华人民共和国管辖的全部港口和海域，形成专业化的海事审判机构体系。”

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