The Mooring Contract as an Atypical Contract: Is It Time for a Legislative Reform?

Since the seventies of the last century, the Italian jurisprudence examined the mooring contract, describing its legal nature not always uniformly. Following the recent changes introduced by the Legislative Decree no. 229 of 3 November 2017, the Legislative Decree no. 171 of 18 July 2005 (Italian Pleasure Navigation Code) mentions for the first time, in some of its new provisions, the mooring contract. In light of the recent legislative evolution of the mooring contract, this academic paper intends to solicit a further reflection by the Italian legislator on the aforementioned contract, in order to avoid, or at least limit, the interpretative doubts with respect to its legal nature.