Legal Analysis Related to the Role of the Maritime Court in Resolving the Problem of Legal Violations in the Shipping Sector

Abstract

The role of the Maritime Court as an institution that handles legal violations in the shipping sector is important, but its implementation still faces various regulatory obstacles and legal weaknesses. The lack of clarity regarding the authority of the Maritime Court in imposing civil and criminal sanctions has resulted in suboptimal enforcement of maritime law. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the regulation of the role of the Maritime Court and identify weaknesses and solutions that can strengthen regulations in handling legal violations in the shipping sector. This study uses a non-doctrinal legal research type with a socio-legal juridical approach, which views law as a symbolic meaning in social interactions and explores it through empirical interviews and literature studies. Data were obtained from primary sources through interviews with related parties such as the Ministry of Transportation, the Maritime Court, academics, and NGOs, as well as from secondary sources in the form of primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively through a process of coding, classification, interpretation, and validation, paying attention to aspects of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability to ensure the validity of the research results. The research results show that the role of the Maritime Court is regulated in Law Number 17 of 2008 and Government Regulation Number 9 of 2019, but still has weaknesses in law enforcement authority. There are no regulations regarding civil or criminal sanctions for parties who negligently or intentionally cause ship accidents, and there is no clear obligation to resolve cases through the Maritime Court first. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen regulations and establish representatives of the Maritime Court in the regions to ensure more effective enforcement of maritime law.