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Maritime Law
OSCOLA formatting style
Examine the impact of the Aconagua Bay [2018] case on the development of English Common Law concerning the wording of voyage charter contracts, when the contract attempts to allocate responsibility if a ship becomes trapped on a berth and is unable to sail.
MAR104 2019-20 Portfolio Coursework Task
Law Essay (worth 25 marks)
Background
A voyage charter party is a contract to charter or hire a named ship to go to a named port to load a specific cargo, and then carry that cargo to a named port of discharge. Very often the actual loading and/or discharge berth is named as well. This is usually a one-off contract but it is normal to use a standard contract form with pre-printed wording for the terms of the contract. Similar wording is used in the terms of many different contracts. To protect both parties and to ensure that each side understands exactly who is responsible for what, it is necessary to put a lot of detail into each voyage charter contract. By having standardised terms and wording in use across the industry, the precise legal meaning will be understood by both parties. When there is an argument about the meaning of a word or phrase, it must go to court for a judge to decide. That decision then becomes a precedent for all later cases if the court is senior enough.
The Aconcagua Bay is a 9,074dwt refrigerated fish carrier built in 1992. Her owners, Seatrade Group NV, chartered her for a voyage from the US Gulf to a port in Angola, Southwest Africa, on a modified GENCON 1994 contract. While she was loading in the USA, a bridge and a lock became damaged, blocking the exit of the ship from her berth through a channel to the open sea. The ship was detained for 14 days from completion of loading until she was finally able to start her loaded passage to Angola. Risk for delay normally passes from the charterer to the shipowner after loading is completed and for the whole voyage until discharge is due to start. However, the ship owners claimed for damages for detention for 14 days from the charterers, who denied responsibility. The matter went to arbitration and the arbitrator found in favour of the charterers. The owners appealed the matter to the High Court and the appeal was allowed because a point of law had to be decided. The key question was, did the words “always accessible” in the GENCON 1994 contract, mean that the loading berth had to be always accessible to the ship on arrival (the meaning that the arbitrators had given it), or did it mean that it had to be always accessible for both arrival and departure from the berth? The case was heard in Seatrade Group NV v Hakan Agro DMCC (The Aconagua Bay) [2018] EWHC 654 (Comm). This question had never been considered before.
Required:
Examine the impact of the Aconagua Bay [2018] case on the development of English Common Law concerning the wording of voyage charter contracts, when the contract attempts to allocate responsibility if a ship becomes trapped on a berth and is unable to sail.
Word Limit
The count of 720-880 words applies to the introduction, main body and conclusion. It does not apply to the references.
Support
Use your lecture notes, e-textbook and library facilities to research for this assessment.
Submit a DRAFT version of your essay through the module DLE site by Monday 19th October at 1200 to get feedback on your work. This will also give you a Turnitin report.
Final Submission
Your final essay must be added to the DLE site by 1200 on Wednesday 28th October 2020.
Marking Criteria
Your Essay will be marked as follows:
To achieve a minimum of 10 marks the pass criteria must be met.
In order to pass this assignment, you must meet the following assessment criteria:
- You explain:
- The Common Law legal system that prevails in England and Wales, including the role of precedence and case law
- A brief outline of the case and the decision of the judge. Be careful to write in your own words (do not copy off the internet) OR you can make some direct quotes from the case report by putting them in quotation marks. In either case you must cite your sources
- The impact of the case on the development of English Common Law concerning the wording of voyage charter contracts and what happens when a ship is trapped on a berth and unable to sail while on voyage charter.
- Your work is structured as an essay – NO abstract, NO numbered headings
- You must include at least five references to newspaper reports, textbooks and cases and you have a list of cases and a list of other sources (List of References) at the end
- You must EITHER write in your own words OR put quotes into quotation marks and cite the source.
Higher marks can be achieved by:
- Addressing the question in more depth, with good use of sources.
- Structuring your arguments in a logical manner.
- Writing concisely, in fluent English, with few errors of grammar or spelling.
- Referencing all sources used in the text of the report, using the legal (footnote) system.
- A List of References and a List of Cases at the back
Marks will be allocated as shown below. See also the marking rubric on the next page.
| Report | Out of |
| Content
· The Common Law legal system that prevails in England and Wales, including the role of precedence and case law · A brief outline of the case and the decision of the judge · An examination of the impact of the case on the development of English Common Law concerning the wording of voyage charter contracts and what happens when a ship is trapped on a berth and unable to sail while on voyage charter |
5
5
5 |
| Sources and Referencing | 5 |
| Essay structure, argument and academic writing | 5 |
| Total | 25 marks |
MAR104 Law Essay Marking Rubric
| Criterion | Zero | Fail: 1 mark | Pass: 2 marks | Good: 3 marks | Excellent: 4 marks | Outstanding: 5 marks |
| An explanation of the Common Law legal system that prevails in England and Wales, including the role of precedence and case law.
|
No explanation of the Common Law legal system and/or no explanation of the role of precedence and case law.
|
The Common law legal system and/or the role of precedence is mentioned.
|
There is a weak explanation of the Common Law legal system that prevails in England and Wales, including the role of precedence and case law. | A good explanation as before, with some depth and supported by appropriate evidence.
|
A deep and thoughtful explanation as before, supported by strong evidence.
|
Strongly critical, deep and thoughtful explanation supported by excellent evidence.
|
| A brief outline of the case and the decision of the judge. | No outline of the case.
|
The case is mentioned.
|
There is a weak outline of the case and the decision of the judge, largely copied from the internet.
|
A good outline in your own words and supported by reference to the case report.
|
A short, precise summary of the key features of the case supported by strong evidence.
|
A short, precise and critical summary of the key features of the case and decision supported by appropriate quotations and academic citations. |
| An examination of the impact of the case on the development of English Common Law concerning the wording of voyage charter contracts and what happens when a ship is trapped on a berth and unable to sail while on voyage charter | No discussion of the impact of the case. | An irrelevant discussion. | There is a weak discussion of the impact of the case on future disputes | A good discussion, with some depth and supported by appropriate evidence. | A deep and thoughtful discussion supported by strong evidence. | A strongly critical, deep and thoughtful discussion supported by excellent evidence. |
| Criterion | Zero | Fail: 1 mark | Pass: 2 marks | Good: 3 marks | Excellent: 4 marks | Outstanding: 5 marks |
| Sources and Referencing. | No references | Too few and incorrectly formatted references, and/or citations not relevant to the text. | At least five appropriate references to newspaper reports, textbooks and cases. A List of References and a List of Cases at the back OR just footnotes used with more sources. May not use the legal system. | Five or more good quality sources, including cases. Most sources used in the text of the essay are referenced correctly using the legal system.
A List of References and a List of Cases at the back |
A comprehensive range of relevant sources given with several cases.
All sources used in the text of the essay are referenced correctly using the legal system. Lists of sources as before. |
All sources used in the text of the Essay are referenced, correctly using the legal system.
Formatting is completely correct, and the extensive cases and other sources used are relevant, up to date and of good academic quality. |
| Essay structure, argument and academic writing | No structure and/or incomprehensible English and/or text copied without use of quotation marks.
|
Difficult to understand or to follow any line of reasoning. Poor presentation, spelling and grammar mistakes also make it hard to follow OR too many direct quotes, with not enough original material.
|
Your work is probably structured as an essay.
Your English is comprehensible but probably some mistakes. You write in your own words or put quotes into quotation marks and cite the source. |
Essay structure without headings.
The work is well presented and organised but some style, spelling and/or grammatical weaknesses are likely to be present.
|
A good essay structure with clear and logical writing in the correct formal passive third person of academic writing. Writing is original, with good paraphrasing and use of quotations.
|
Excellent internal structure to the essay with a focussed chain of argument. Very clear, concise, correct and fluent writing. Written in the formal passive third person. Writing is original, with excellent paraphrasing and use of quotations. |
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