EL SISTEMA DE CONTRATOS DE EXPLOTACIóN DEL BUQUE EN EL CóDIGO DE COMERCIO COLOMBIANO

this article is the result of a study made at the sabana university under the project: "transformation on liability in colombian legislation after the approval of the trade agreements between colombia and the european union, and between colombia and the united states of america - maritime transportation chapter". this research demanded a rigorous review of the legislation on maritime transportation contracts in the commercial code. several resources such as history, judicial decisions, authors' opinions and comparative law were used. through this analysis we are able to understand that our legal system is based on the roman law structure 'locatio conductio", enriched by medieval and modern law. the distinction between transport, affreightment and rent contracts is based on the parties duties without ignoring the vessel as the instrument for maritime navigation. under this perspective, our system also follows the tradition established by other law systems like italian and argentinian law.