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In the maritime law, there are some cases happened for the conflict in the ships. The justification is based on the ship\u2019s flag. The ship\u2019s flag is an important factor when the court makes the decision on the judging. The ship\u2019s flag is a representation of the ship\u2019s nationality, which means the ship is under control by the registered country. The ship should follow the regulation of the country and also can get the various protections or have the preferential treatments as tax, certification and security etc\u00a0[1<\/a>]<\/span>\u00a0. In official, the ship\u2019s flag is called ensign or pennant. The function of the ship\u2019s flag is to show the other countries or ships that the ship\u2019s nationality in the open sea to make them recognize where are the ships belonged\u00a0[2<\/a>]<\/span>\u00a0. Based on the ship\u2019s flag, the ship should obey the international and the registered country\u2019s maritime law in the open sea. The ship\u2019s flag is a sign of the ship\u2019s nationality; therefore, the nationality of the ship is the other significance of the flag. The flag has a relationship with the nationality. The ship\u2019s nationality plays an important role in the maritime law. And it can be used on the different kinds of marine conflict.<\/p>\n In this paper, it will make a brief description about the ship\u2019s flag, then, extend the ship\u2019s nationality, which is the invisible important element of the ships. In addition, it will explain the scope of the municipal law of the ships registry, which is a law that the conflicts are judged based on the ships\u2019 registered countries.<\/p>\n The ship\u2019s flag and nationality<\/p>\n In the shipping business, the choice of ship\u2019s flag is decided by the ship owner\u2019s consideration about the tax, inspection, maritime law. The different ships\u2019 flag mean that the ships follow the different nationals\u2019 provision. In addition, the ship\u2019s flag also expresses the nationality which the ship has. Therefore, the ship\u2019s flag plays an important role in shipping business. In most of the time, the ship\u2019s flag will be considered as the ship\u2019s nationality. The ship\u2019s nationality is a certification of the ship owner register the ship based on a country\u2019s regulation and gains the country\u2019s tax or security protection when the ship sails on the open sea. The function of the ship\u2019s nationality is for the justification when the ship has the conflict with the other ship, the court will make the judgment based on the ship\u2019s national law.<\/p>\n In the other way, the ship\u2019s nationality is the delegation of the ship\u2019s flag, which is one of the maritime authorities\u2019 foundations in international and national law. The usage of ship\u2019s nationality presents the ship\u2019s registered nation\u2019s efficient maritime authority on the related ships and the various conflict situations. Most of the maritime judgment will consider the connecting factor as the most important element to estimate the conflict result.<\/p>\n Maritime conflict<\/p>\n There are different kinds of maritime conflict in the shipping cases. For instance, the ship\u2019s ownership of property, the tortuous act on the open sea, the marine salvage and the limitation of marine liability of damage, they are all been arbitrated under the principle of ships\u2019 nationalities.<\/p>\n Ship\u2019s property<\/p>\n In the ship\u2019s ownership of property, for the moving action of the shipping business, it is hard to make sure the ship\u2019s location. It is assumed that the ship is on the open sea and there is a property problem happened; it is difficult to judge the conflict by any countries\u2019 authorities. Therefore, it would be efficiently if the judgment is based on the ship\u2019s national maritime law.<\/p>\n In the case of the Anton Durbeck GmbH v Den Norske Bank ASA\u00a0[3<\/a>]<\/span>\u00a0, the claimant T claimed for the tort of the damage of the bananas which were transported from Ecuador to Panama. To some financial problem, the ship was been arrested and the cargos were damaged. The ship was registered in the Cyprus and both parties can accept the English law and Panama law both. One of the problems of this case are which law should be used and how to decide the arrest judgment. According to Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions), Act 1995 s.11(1), choose which country\u2019s law based on the location when the case happened\u00a0[4<\/a>]<\/span>\u00a0. The location of the case happened is the connecting factor to make the court arbitrate the judgment.<\/p>\n Tort<\/p>\n To the tortuous act on the open sea, it is a special in tortuous act. For the complexity of this act, the maritime laws in different nations are variously. Some nations will use the ship\u2019s nationality as the arbitrate principle. When the conflict happened on the territorial sea, it will be judged by the territorial maritime law mostly. However, if both of the ships are in the same nationality, the case will be arbitrated by the law of the ship\u2019s nation, not the territorial maritime law.<\/p>\n Assumer that the tortuous act is happened on the open sea and, the consequence is limited inside the ship, as the argument in the seafarers, not the damage of the facility or equipment on the other ships or public infrastructure, the act will be judged according to the maritime law of ship\u2019s nationality, which is used wildly in international.<\/p>\n Salvage<\/p>\n In the third situation, if the salvage is under the contract, the salvage will be acted by the contract condition. Otherwise, the salvage will be performed by the maritime law based on the ship\u2019s nationality. As the ship\u2019s registered nation, the country has the liability to do the salvage action to help the ship in dangerous. It is reasonable to use perform the municipal maritime law of the ships registry, especially on the open sea and, the damage ships are in the same nationality. The application of the municipal maritime law of the ships registry has been acquiescent by the nations.<\/p>\n