Maritime Law-Advise BOTH Barack and Dimitry of Any Claims - Assignment Example

June 2009 Maritime Law Maritime Law 1. Advise BOTH Barack and Dimitry of any claims they might have First and foremost, the Bill of Lading was issued as per the US jurisdiction and hence all the disputes will be settled there. The bill of lading did not include the clause of ‘no deviation’ but the chip in fact deviated from its original course and went to Reykjavik, Iceland. Moreover the charter also states that “neither the servants nor agents nor independent contractors of the carrier shall be liable above the limit set by the charter”.

This proves that the liability will be limited, irrespective of the loss incurred by Barack and Dimitry. Now we have to consider each of the case individually. First, let us consider the case of Barrack. Barrack was merely a buyer of vodka and it was meant for presidential election. He had accepted the offer made by Dimitry and had undertaken to bear the profit or loss as expected from the trading point of view. But since the good was not yet delivered to Barack, he can definitely claim compensation, but that is subject to the deal he had with Dimitry.

Maritime law is actually an aspect of the international law and cannot be considered a municipal or domestic law. The international aspect of the maritime law can never be denied and it gives it a distinctive flavor. In the doubtful cases the court of one country will look into the examples or rulings of another country for the requirement of idea or assistance. Except to the degree that it is bound by the international conventions like Hague, each country can adapt to the maritime law that think is favorable.

Hence, what maybe valid for Russia, may not be applicable for USA and vice versa. But since the bill of lading is considering the U.S. law hence, it can be considered that Barrack will have a Maritime Law 2 definite advantage. In many cases the pilot effort has been made by the International Maritime Committee, which is more commonly known ass Comité Maritime International (CMI). This contains the maritime law associations of about 30 nations. The work of the committee is to primarily draft the international conventions which relate to the subjects of maritime law.

When these drafts are prepared it is then submitted to the government of Belgium which then holds a diplomatic conference and this draft is discussed and amended as per the requirement of the international maritime trade. These regulations are an international system of navigation. In extra fields a lot has been achieved in order to guarantee the international consistency through the confidential agreements willingly adhered to by the affected parties; the York-Antwerp Rules of General Average, which was first propagated in the year 1890 and has been amended in the year 1950, are an example of such agreements.

They do not enforce any law but by the integration in the charter parties and the bills of lading, these agreements establish the privileges and responsibilities of the parties as successfully as any other decree. Based on the above mentioned facts and information, it can be assumed that both Barrack and Dimitry will receive fair justice subject to the international maritime law. 2. In which jurisdiction would you advise them to bring any such claims? 3. Critically analyse the extent to which it may be argued that the doctrine of “freedom of contract” prevails over international carriage contracts such as those relied upon by the parties above.