Admiralty Jurisdiction, Unification, and the American Law Institute

In light of the rationale behind the establishment of the admiralty jurisdiction, it seems to me constitutionally and statutorily illogical to say that a case is within the admiralty jurisdiction, concurrent though it may be, and yet subject to the substantive whims of fifty jurisdictions. Further, the inquiry which the existence of these exceptions requires sometimes leads the courts to the kind of unhappy convolutions typified by Fireman's Fund American Insurance Company v. Boston Harbor Marina, Inc., which held that an exculpatory contract for winter storage and repair - in a terrene hangar - was within the admiralty jurisdiction and was not one of those transactions which "are matters of special concern to the states, or reveal significant differences reflecting deep-dyed local practice, preference, and public policy."