• Journal of Legislation Research
• /
• no.53
• /
• pp.491-524
• /
• 2017

Under the general maritime law, a life salvor has no claim against the person saved, and a pure life salvor has no right to compensation from the owner of the ship or its cargo. This harsh rule, which treats the salvor of life less generously than the salvor of property, has been modified by international conventions, statutes, so that life salvors may expect a reward in most cases. It is, especially, unreasonable that a prerequisite of a salvage award is that at least some of the property must be saved, because life of a person can not be compared to values of goods such as vessels and cargoes. Also it is not understandable that only pure life salvors can not expect a reward for the saving of life from the owners of the property. In the meantime, according to Article 39 of the Korean Maritime Search and Rescue Act (hereunder, KMSARA), any person who has gave assistance and rescued in accordance with a governmental officer's order may get a compensation for their time and labour. The above mentioned compensation which is stemmed from the KMSARA may play a role as a compliment for the lack of enough compensation to a life salvor. This means that even though a life salvor failed to save property, he may expect a minimum compensation from the KMSARA. However, it should be recognized that when a life salvor is entitled to both remuneration for the salvage of life and recourse of expenditures from the KMSARA, the total remuneration shall be paid only if and to the extent that such remuneration is greater than any reward recoverable by the salvor under the Korean Commercial Code and the KMSARA.