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"Preface and introduction" [2019] ELECD 1644; in Chuah, Jason (ed), "Research Handbook on Maritime Law and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) xi

Book Title: Research Handbook on Maritime Law and Regulation

Editor(s): Chuah, Jason

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section Title: Preface and introduction

Number of pages: 6

Extract:

Preface and introduction


International maritime law traditionally has fallen to be studied in discrete blocks ­
public law or private law, primarily. Much of the current legal scholarship in the field
slots rather too neatly into these pre-conceived, artificially drawn domains. On either
side of the divide is often a misunderstanding about the other. Private law thinking,
especially that from the west, is largely concerned with the role of private law in
preserving commercial relationships, whilst public law thinking has often concerned
itself with the public good. In reality, of course, the shipping world operates without
such artificially drawn boundaries. The private and the public are always inextricably
connected. Lawyers and legal scholars favour working within a narrowly defined
domain, understandably. I recall a conversation with a shipmaster once. His vessel was
receiving bunker fuel at Qingdao supplied by the charterer. He was very concerned
about whether the bunkers supplied were not "off-spec" ­ any damage caused to the
ship as a result of off-spec bunkers would not be covered by insurance but would also
lead to prosecutions if the ship, as a result of the inappropriate bunker, were to collide
or ground causing environmental damage. To him, the "law" was the law ­ no thought
about private or public law. Of course, not all classification is bad ­ and it can be useful
to have a set of narrowly defined values, for example when querying specific aspects
of the law. What is perhaps notable in this Research Handbook is the ...