Admiralty Law: Principles and Liabilities

Module overview

Shipping plays a critical role in the global economy and is generally considered a very well-regulated part of the marine industry, not least internationally by the International Maritime Organization. However, sometimes things may still go wrong with ships at sea due to the inherently risky activities and perils to which they are exposed, such as collisions, running into heavy weather, various navigation incidents leading to pollution and/or casualties, and many other risks ‘of’ and ‘at’ the sea. The module of Admiralty Law: Principles and Liabilities considers the essential legal aspects of the maritime adventure that were mostly developed by the Admiralty Court in England and which have now been embraced by many other jurisdictions in the world.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

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

The most frequently occurring and important terms of liabilities covering incidents at sea, including collisions; salvage and towage; piracy, pollution, wreck and port liabilities.
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 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.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Critically appraise and offer solutions in existing areas of debate in U.K. and international maritime law.
Analyse relevant legal materials, including international conventions, statutes, case law and standard form maritime contracts.
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.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

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

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

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.

Study time
Type	Hours
Independent Study	130
Blended Learning	20
Total study time	150

Resources & Reading list

General Resources

Rainey, The Law of Tug and Tow and Offshore Contracts (4th ed. 2017).

Mandaraka-Sheppard, Modern Maritime Law and Risk Management Vols I and II (3rd end, Informa, 2013)..

Brice, Maritime Law of Salvage (5th edition, 2012).

The Southampton Volumes of Admiralty Law Materials. Students are issued with electronic copies of the module’s materials which contain the primary legal instruments required for their study.

Kennedy & Rose, The Law of Salvage (9th ed. 2017).

Marsden & Gault, Collisions at Sea (14th ed. 2016).

Rose, General Average – Law and Practice (3rd ed. 2018).

Gaskell and Forrest, The Law of Wreck (Informa, 2020).

Textbooks

S. Baughen (2019). Shipping Law. Routledge.

D. Attard, et al., (2016). The IMLI Manual on International Maritime Law, Volume II: Shipping Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Assessment

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.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Examination	100%

Referral

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

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Examination	100%

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.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Examination	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External