The capture of the Ponte: the development of vicarious liability of shipowners and its limitation in Roman-Dutch law

Summary In 1599, Dutch privateer Melchior van den Kerckhoven unlawfully captured the Venetian merchantman Ponte , which resulted in extensive legal proceedings before the Supreme Court of Holland, Zeeland and West-Friesland. The Ponte case soon became the centrepiece for discussions about vicarious liability of shipowners for unlawful acts of their shipmasters, and – more importantly – about limitation of this liability to (the value of) their ship and cargo. Within these discussions, a secondary role was reserved for the case arising from the capture of the French ship Levrette by a Dutch mer... Mehr ...