Case report
Limitation of Liability in International Maritime Conventions : The relationship between global limitation conventions and particular liability regimes (author: N.A.Martinez Gutierrez) (London : Routledge, 2011) : [book review]
Adriana Vincenca Padovan
orcid.org/0000-0003-0013-1820
; Jadranski zavod HAZU, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The limitation of liability is one of the most important concepts in maritime law and it has always been deeply rooted in the maritime and marine insurance industry. Many international maritime conventions adopt the concept of limited liability of the shipowner, including those regulating the shipowner’s liability for cargo, passengers and their luggage, pollution and wreck removal. Each of those conventions provides for a special regime of limited liability for particular types of maritime claims. In addition, there are maritime conventions regulating the global limitation of liability for all types of maritime claims.
This book studies the relationship between the maritime conventions dealing with special limitation of liability and those providing for a system of global limitation of liability. The problem is approached from an international perspective by studying the conventional provisions that have proven to be controversial in the comparative court practice and legal literature. The author discusses all the elements of the concept of limited liability, including a) the persons entitled to limit their liability; b) the ships in respect of which liability can be limited; c) the types of maritime claims subject to the limitation of liability and those excepted from the regime; d) the basis of liability in particular maritime conventions; e) the loss of the right to limit; f) the limits of liability.
The analysis encompasses the key international maritime conventions on the shipowner’s liability, including primarily the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC), 1976 and its Protocol of 1996; the Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea, 1974 and its Protocol of 2002; the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969 and its Protocol of 1992; the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances, 1996 and its Protocol of 2010; the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001; and the Nairobi Convention on Wreck Removal, 2007. The author further gives a special overview of the impact of the International Safety Management Code on the loss of the right to limit the liability in the context of various regimes of the limitation of liability.
The book contains a thorough study of the historical development of the concept of limited liability in maritime law, a comparative legal analysis and the critique of the current law regarding the limitation of liability as applied in common law and civil law countries based on the LLMC 1976 and its Protocol of 1996. A special chapter is devoted to the identification of the problems arising from the implementation of the LLMC and the author’s proposals for amendments thereto.
The monograph abounds in the analysis of the relevant case law of various jurisdictions, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, USA, and
others. The detailed and well organized indexes of case law, treaties, other international legal instruments and national laws help the readers and researchers to target the answers to particular legal questions.
This valuable scholarly monograph represents a unique study of the international limitation of liability regimes and their interrelationships, immensely contributing to their systematic comprehension and the knowledge in the respective legal field. This book will therefore be a very useful manual and a precious source for the maritime law scholars and professionals, and all those searching the answers to legal questions relating to the application of the concept of the limitation of liability in the international maritime law.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
97350
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2012.
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