Merchant Marine Act of 1920
E158685
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act, is a U.S. federal law that regulates maritime commerce by requiring goods transported between U.S. ports to be carried on U.S.-built, -owned, and -crewed vessels.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Jones Act | 6 |
| Jones Act of 1917 | 2 |
| Merchant Marine Act of 1920 canonical | 2 |
| Jones Act seamen injury provisions | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1380299 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Merchant Marine Act of 1920 Context triple: [Shipping Act of 1916, relatedTo, Merchant Marine Act of 1920]
-
A.
Merchant Marine Act of 1936
The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 is a U.S. federal law that established policies and programs to develop and maintain a strong American merchant marine for commerce and national defense.
-
B.
Merchant Marine Act of 1970
The Merchant Marine Act of 1970 is a U.S. federal law that updated and expanded national maritime policy, including shipbuilding and fleet modernization programs, to strengthen the American merchant marine.
-
C.
Shipping Act of 1916
The Shipping Act of 1916 was a foundational U.S. maritime law that established federal regulation of ocean shipping practices and created the United States Shipping Board to oversee fair competition and rates in international trade.
-
D.
Rivers and Harbors Act of 1937
The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1937 is a U.S. federal law that, among other water infrastructure measures, authorized major reclamation and water management projects in California’s Central Valley.
-
E.
Merchant Shipping Act
The Merchant Shipping Act is a key piece of United Kingdom legislation that regulates British merchant vessels, their registration, safety standards, and the rules under which they operate at sea.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Merchant Marine Act of 1920 Target entity description: The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act, is a U.S. federal law that regulates maritime commerce by requiring goods transported between U.S. ports to be carried on U.S.-built, -owned, and -crewed vessels.
-
A.
Merchant Marine Act of 1936
The Merchant Marine Act of 1936 is a U.S. federal law that established policies and programs to develop and maintain a strong American merchant marine for commerce and national defense.
-
B.
Merchant Marine Act of 1970
The Merchant Marine Act of 1970 is a U.S. federal law that updated and expanded national maritime policy, including shipbuilding and fleet modernization programs, to strengthen the American merchant marine.
-
C.
Shipping Act of 1916
The Shipping Act of 1916 was a foundational U.S. maritime law that established federal regulation of ocean shipping practices and created the United States Shipping Board to oversee fair competition and rates in international trade.
-
D.
Rivers and Harbors Act of 1937
The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1937 is a U.S. federal law that, among other water infrastructure measures, authorized major reclamation and water management projects in California’s Central Valley.
-
E.
Merchant Shipping Act
The Merchant Shipping Act is a key piece of United Kingdom legislation that regulates British merchant vessels, their registration, safety standards, and the rules under which they operate at sea.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States federal statute
ⓘ
maritime law ⓘ |
| affects |
U.S. domestic shipping costs
ⓘ
U.S. maritime labor market ⓘ U.S. shipbuilding industry ⓘ |
| appliesIn |
U.S. exclusive economic zone for coastwise trade
ⓘ
U.S. territorial waters ⓘ |
| appliesTo | transportation of merchandise between U.S. ports ⓘ |
| codifiedIn | Title 46 of the United States Code ⓘ |
| containsProvision |
cabotage restrictions
ⓘ
seamen personal injury remedy known as the Jones Act negligence claim ⓘ |
| country |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticizedFor |
increasing shipping costs to non-contiguous U.S. states and territories
ⓘ
limiting competition in domestic maritime transport ⓘ |
| dateEnacted | June 5, 1920 ⓘ |
| enactedBy | United States Congress ⓘ |
| grantsRight | right of seamen to sue employers for negligence ⓘ |
| hasAlias |
Jones Act
ⓘ
linked to:
Merchant Marine Act of 1920
|
| hasImpactOn |
U.S. energy and commodity shipping
ⓘ
disaster relief logistics to U.S. territories ⓘ |
| hasLongTitle | An Act to provide for the promotion and maintenance of the American merchant marine ⓘ |
| hasSection |
Jones Act seamen injury provisions
ⓘ
linked to:
Merchant Marine Act of 1920
|
| jurisdiction |
United States federal government
ⓘ
linked to:
United States government
|
| legalArea |
admiralty law
ⓘ
transportation law ⓘ |
| policyGoal |
encourage domestic shipbuilding and ship repair facilities
ⓘ
ensure U.S. control of domestic waterborne commerce ⓘ have a merchant marine capable of serving as a naval auxiliary in time of war or national emergency ⓘ |
| purpose |
ensure a strong U.S. maritime industry for national defense
ⓘ
maintain U.S. control over domestic maritime transportation ⓘ promote U.S. shipbuilding ⓘ support the U.S. merchant marine ⓘ |
| regulates |
coastwise trade of the United States
ⓘ
maritime commerce in U.S. waters ⓘ |
| relevantTo |
Alaska
ⓘ
Guam ⓘ Hawaii ⓘ
linked to:
Hawaii Territory
Puerto Rico ⓘ |
| requires |
use of U.S.-built vessels for transport between U.S. ports
ⓘ
use of U.S.-crewed vessels for transport between U.S. ports ⓘ use of U.S.-flag vessels for transport between U.S. ports ⓘ use of U.S.-owned vessels for transport between U.S. ports ⓘ |
| shortTitle |
Jones Act
ⓘ
linked to:
Merchant Marine Act of 1920
|
| signedBy | Woodrow Wilson ⓘ |
| subjectOf | ongoing political and economic debate in the United States ⓘ |
| supportedFor |
protecting U.S. maritime jobs
ⓘ
supporting national security through a domestic merchant fleet ⓘ |
| yearEnacted | 1920 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Merchant Marine Act of 1920 Description of subject: The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act, is a U.S. federal law that regulates maritime commerce by requiring goods transported between U.S. ports to be carried on U.S.-built, -owned, and -crewed vessels.
Referenced by (11)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920
linked to: Merchant Marine Act of 1920