RHODIAN LAWS

This, the earliest Code or collection of maritime laws, was formulated by the people of the island of Rhodes, who, by their commercial prosperity and the superiority of their navies, had acquired the sovereignty of the seas. Its date is very uncertain, but is supposed (by Kent and others) to be about 900 B. C. Nothing of it is now extant except the article on jettison, which has been preserved in the Roman collections. Another code, under the same name, was published in more modern times, but is generally considered, by the best authorities, to be spurious. See Schomberg, Mar. Laws Rhodes, 87, 38 ; 3 Kent, Comm. 3, 4; Azuni, Mar. Law, 265-296.