Navigating the Legal Waters: The Role and Liability of a Ship’s Captain in Roman Maritime Law

The ship’s captain (magister navis) held a pivotal role in overseeing maritime operations and managing the vessel. Rooted in traditional legal concepts, Roman maritime law predominantly relied on the contract of locatio conductio. Since, under this contract, captains were liable for the delivery of goods rather than their safekeeping, this often led to fraudulent activities. To address these issues, the receptum nautarum was introduced to impose liability for the safekeeping of goods, allowing merchants to sue captains if goods were damaged or stolen during transit. Given this intricate commercial venture, the author aims to elucidate the captain’s legal relations with the beneficiary of the maritime venture (exercitor navis) on one hand, and with third parties on the other, as well as to prove that the captain was not initially liable for custodia.