Admiralty Law: Principles and Liabilities

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The main principles of admiralty law and the commercial and public policies which underpin it, deriving from a variety of legal instruments, including international conventions, statutes, case law and standard form maritime contracts.
• The existing areas of debate, such as the principled practices and doctrine of General Average, within Admiralty law both in its statutory and common law form and its application in the U.K. and internationally.
• The most frequently occurring and important terms of liabilities covering incidents at sea, including collisions; salvage and towage; piracy, pollution, wreck and port liabilities.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Identify key legal and policy issues in their maritime commercial context and apply admiralty principles, with appropriate legal authorities, in the solution of complex practical problems involving multiple regimes of liability and draft legal advice based upon such problems.
• Analyse relevant legal materials, including international conventions, statutes, case law and standard form maritime contracts.
• Critically appraise and offer solutions in existing areas of debate in U.K. and international maritime law.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Think critically, develop coherent arguments in writing.
• Distinguish relevant from irrelevant materials.
• Display clarity and objectivity in written discussion demonstrating an awareness of issue of academic integrity.
• Identify and analyse key issues.

The main topics to be covered in the module are:

* the nature and development of Admiralty Law

* Collisions, including towage elements

* Salvage, including towage elements

* General average

* Piracy

* Port liabilities and removal of wrecks

* Marine pollution liabilities

This module is taught by lectures (8x2hours) and seminars (3x2hours). Lectures will introduce the principles and structure of the subject. You are expected to provide the main input to the seminars where the principles introduced in the lectures are applied to hypothetical scenarios.

The most important part of learning is your own independent study. This will, however, be closely guided, and firmly tied into the lectures, seminars and assessment. In the seminars you will have the opportunity to present arguments orally to a group of peers and defend your position under challenge.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Essay or problem question

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: You will receive feedback in accordance with the applicable Law School Rules and via the Law School Feedback sheets, through comments written on the formative work, and orally in a class discussion of the formative work.
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.