Maritime Legal Glossary: M

Main deck: the main continuous deck of a ship running from fore to aft; the principle deck; the deck from which the freeboard is determined.

Malpractice: a carrier giving a customer illegal preference to attract cargo. This can take the form of a money refund (rebate); using lower figures than actual for the assessment of freight charges (undercubing); misdeclaration of the commodity shipped to allow the assessment of a lower tariff rate; waiving published tariff charges for demurrage, cfs handling or equalization; providing specialized equipment to a shipper to the detriment of other shippers, etc.

Manifest: a document containing a full list of the ship's cargo, extracted from the bills of lading.

Manning scales: the minimum number of officers and crew members that can be engaged on a ship to be considered as sufficient hands with practical ability to meet every possible eventuality at sea.

Master (captain): highest officer aboard ship. Oversees all ship operations. Keeps ships records. Handles accounting and bookkeeping. Takes command of vessel in inclement weather and in crowded or narrow waters. Handles communications. Receives and implements instructions from home office. 

Marine insurance: broadly, insurance covering loss or damage of goods at sea. Marine insurance typically compensates the owner of merchandise for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier. 

Maritime: business pertaining to commerce or navigation transacted upon the sea or in seaports in such matters as the court of admiralty has jurisdiction. 

Maritime administration (marad ): oversees subsidy programs to the united states merchant marine. Assigns routes to subsidized liners.

Mediation: a method of alternative dispute resolution in which a neutral third party helps resolve a dispute. The mediator does not have the power to impose a decision on the parties. If a satisfactory resolution cannot be reached, the parties can pursue a lawsuit.

Microbridge: a system of through rates and service offered by a carrier for cargo shipments from any inland u.s. location to a port by sea, to a foreign port, and finally overland to foreign inland destination.

Miniland bridge: the process of taking inland cargo bound for export to the coast by rail and loading it directly to the ship.

Miraid: maritime institute for research and industrial development.

Mixed shipment: a shipment consisting of more than one commodity, articles described under more than one class or commodity rate item in a tariff.

Motion: a request asking a judge to issue a ruling or order on a legal matter. 

Motion for a new trial: request in which a losing party asserts that a trial was unfair due to legal errors that prejudiced its case.

Motion for directed verdict: a request made by the defendant in a civil case. Asserts that the plaintiff has raised no genuine issue to be tried and asks the judge to rule in favor of the defense. This motion is typically made after the plaintiff is done presenting his or her case.

Motion for summary judgment: a request made by the defendant in a civil case. Asserts that the plaintiff has raised no genuine issue to be tried and asks the judge to rule in favor of the defense. This motion is typically made before the trial. 

Motion to dismiss: in a civil case, a request to a judge by the defendant, asserting that even if all the allegations are true, the plaintiff is not entitled to any legal relief and thus the case should be dismissed.

Motion to suppress evidence: a request to a judge to keep out evidence at a trial or hearing; often made when a party believes the evidence was unlawfully obtained.

MSC: maritime safety committee, a major committee within the international maritime organization. 

Multipurpose ship: any ship capable of carrying different types of cargo which require different methods of handling. There are several types of ships falling into this category, for example, ships which can carry roll on/roll off cargo together with containers.