Maritime law is a subject of ancient vintage which is both evolutionary and revolutionary in the context of the current milieu. It is still evolving as new areas of law are emerging mainly through international conventions and the technological revolution that is rapidly changing or modifying established principles and practices in the maritime field. The book Maritime Law Perspectives Old and New is the brainchild of the lead editor Proshanto K. Mukherjee, the proverbial “ancient mariner”, and is produced by the editorial triumvirate comprising him, Jingjing Xu and Maximo Q. Mejia who have collaborated on several past occasions. They are assisted by upwardly mobile maritime law academics Huiru Liu and Minna Yu. The book is special in many ways, not the least of which is the conglomeration of authors hailing from some 20 countries around the world covering both common and civil law jurisdictions and the fact that the contributing authors are inter-generational. A unique feature of the book which appears in two volumes is that the first volume consists entirely of Chinese authors most of whom are relatively young newcomers embarking on their academic voyages. This will hopefully inspire others of their kind in China to write and publish in English which is officially recognized by the International Maritime Organization as the global language of the maritime world. The second volume consists of the writings of seasoned maritime law authors some of whom are distinguished scholars with enviable track records in maritime law academia. Other notable features of the book include the vast array of subject matters addressed in the chapters of both volumes ranging from traditional public and private law topics such as international law of the sea, ship-source pollution, regulatory maritime law like ship safety and aids to navigation to emerging hi-tech oriented topics like blockchain applications in shipping, comparative legal commonalities between maritime and aviation law and contemporary legal endeavour such as the convention on recognition of judicial sales of ships and interjurisdictional issues and disputes in transboundary waterways. It is anticipated that the book will inure to the benefit of readers and researchers who are involved in pursuing maritime law and are keenly interested in its perpetuity from perspectives old and new.
