A Comparative Study of “Ship Registration Systems” in Light of Legal Functions

Ship registration is one of the registration systems that has been considered by legal systems since ancient times. The private dimension of this registration system in light of registration of ownership and other rights, along with the public dimension of granting citizenship to the ship, have turned the ship registration into a private-public system. However, so far, the functions of the ship registration system and the classification of registration systems based on the type of function have not been independently studied and has left questions such as ‘What are the functions of the ship registration system in each of the dimensions of private law and public law, and according to these functions, what are the types of registration systems in each of the areas of public and private law’ unanswered. Based on comparative studies, we concluded that the ship registration system in the field of private law has the supportive-informational function and based on this, three systems of Constitutive, Declaratory and Protective can be developed and Iranian ship registration is the constitutive one. Also, in the field of public law, we see the supervisory-diplomatic function that creates Closed, Open and Compromise Register Systems and Iranian ship registration is a closed one. Finally, suggestions have been made to reform the Iranian system and match it with the expected functions.