This Article will attempt not only to illuminate the struggle of Congress and the courts to meet the needs of the various competing interests involved in maritime commerce but also demonstrate how this struggle has produced both brilliant and erroneous decisions, depending to some degree on the viewpoint of the beholder. This Article endeavors to provide a foundation for detailed treatment of specific areas of the law that may be found in other articles appearing in this issue and discussed at the 1993 Tulane Admiralty Law Institute.