Postgraduate Module Descriptor

LAWM067: Carriage of Goods by Sea

This module descriptor refers to the 2017/8 academic year.

Module Aims

The aim of the module is to provide you with a comprehensive introduction to the law and practice of carriage of goods by sea, explaining the types and significance of charterparties, the role of bills of lading, the duties of the parties to a contract of carriage and the operation of international regimes, including the Hague Rules, the Hague Visby Rules, the Hamburg Rules and the Rotterdam Rules.

Carriage of goods by sea has been developed by the interaction of numerous judicial decisions, market practices and attempts to harmonise the law through international convention. There are many different forms of charterparties in use, and the course will examine which are used and in what circumstances. One of the key issues is to examine the various rights and responsibilities that exist between owners and charterers, and between the carrier and the shipper. Also, as the law in this area combines case law and statutory law, during the LLM year you will be expected to understand and digest both case law and written law and the connections between them.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Demonstrate a detailed and systematic knowledge of the operation of bills of lading and charterparties, and the relationship between them; 2. Demonstrate a detailed and systematic knowledge of the rights and liabilities arising under a contract of carriage; 3. Advise accurately and comprehensively on the operation of international rules for the carriage of goods by sea, and critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of the various different regimes.
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. Demonstrate detailed and comprehensive understanding of the interaction of the complex web of case law, standard form contracts, shipping documents and international conventions. 5. Demonstrate flexible capacity to analyse the operation of the different forms of contract of carriage, the problems that may arise from them and to advise on the outcome of disputes between owner and charterer.
Personal and Key Skills	6. Communicate key legal concepts to both legal and market audiences effectively, confidently and autonomously, orally and in writing; 7. Identify, retrieve and use the full range of library-based and electronic resources efficiently and autonomously.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

While the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is anticipated that the following topics will be covered:

Brief Introduction to English Contract Law

Introduction to Carriage of Goods by Sea

Implied Obligations in a Contract of Affreightment

Charterparties- Ships, Ports and Cargo

Voyage Charters: Freight, Laytime and Demurrage

Time Charters: Charter period, Hire and Employment and Indemnity

Liens, Damages and Frustration

Bills of Lading, charterparties and contracts of carriage

Functions of Bills of Lading

Bills of Lading and Third Parties

Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992

Application of the Hague-Visby Rules (HVR) to Bills of Lading - Overview and Carriers’ Duties

Application of the HVR to Bills of Lading - Claims

Bills of Lading- Hamburg Rules and Rotterdam Rules

Limits and Exceptions under the HVR

Review of the module

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
30	270	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description

Scheduled learning and teaching activities	30	Seminars: 10 x 3 hour lecturer-led seminars. Students will be expected to make at least one presentation during the course of the seminar programme.
Guided independent study	52	Preparation for seminars/follow-up reading.
Guided independent study	108	Preparation for seminars approx. 12 hours per seminar. This will include reading the key texts and cases, so that each seminar can be conducted at a high level and can discuss complex issues of both practical and theoretical concern.
Guided independent study	20	Preparation for formative exercise
Guided independent study	40	Preparation for summative assessment
Guided independent study	50	Other guided independent study. This is intended to give students greater opportunity to examine specific issues, in particular the various forms of agreement that are found and the merits and demerits of the differing international codes which may be adopted by the parties. Guided reading, primarily based on articles in learned journals, will be recommended.

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

I-law, Westlaw, LexisNexis and BAILII are where the principal case reports (Lloyd’s Law Reports, The Law Reports and The English Reports) can be found, as well as some specialised journals. These on-line databases supplement the use of library and paper documents. Statutes can be found at www.legislation.gov.uk.