InBrief

In memory of Richard Cooper, Justice of the Federal Court from 1992-2005, you are invited to join UQ Law at the 2019 Richard Cooper Memorial Lecture, dedicated to maritime law. This free event will be held at the Harry Gibbs Commonwealth Law Courts in Brisbane, with live broadcasts to the courts in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

This years lecture will be presented by The Hon Justice A M Stewart and is titled - The fluctuating incidence of the burden of proof under the Hague-Visby Rules: The implications of Volcafe v CSAV [2019] AC 358 on the position in Australia

The Hague Visby Rules embody a widely adopted, and legislated, set of rules governing the liability of carriers of cargo by sea for loss of or damage to cargo that they carry. Key amongst the provisions of the Rules are those that place an obligation on the carrier before and at the beginning of the voyage to make the ship seaworthy and to properly and carefully load, stow carry and discharge the cargo carried (Article III Rules 1 and 2), and except the carrier from responsibility for loss or damage resulting from one or more of a list of different perils including fire and perils of the sea (Article IV Rule 2). How do these provisions relate to each other and who bears the onus of proving what? The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom recently came to reconsider what had been said in the House of Lords in Albacora srl v Westcott & Laurence Line Ltd [1966] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 53 and to consider what had been said in the High Court of Australia in Great China Metal Industries Co Ltd v Malaysian International Shipping Corpn Bhd (The Bunga Seroja) (1998) 196 CLR 161, and took a contrary view. The paper will review these developments and consider what implications there are for the position in Australia.

For more information and to register, click here.