Modern shipping law in South Africa - can Section 6 of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act be discarded with impunity? - a comparative study

Wagener, Michael

Modern shipping law in South Africa - can Section 6 of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act be discarded with impunity? - a comparative study

Thesis / Dissertation

2004

Abstract

There is no area of the law which cannot be improved by being re-thought from its first principles. Admiralty jurisdiction and procedure are no exceptions to this general rule; the antiquity of parts of English admiralty jurisdiction and procedure are such that re-thinking both by admiralty and non-admiralty lawyers (to say nothing of non-lawyers) might produce some particularly beneficial results. In terms of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act ("the AJRA") each provincial and local division of the High Court is clothed with jurisdiction to hear and determine various maritime claims defined in a comprehensive list. Section 6 regulates the law and the rules of evidence to be applied in the exercise of the court's admiralty jurisdiction. It provides that with regard to any matter in respect of which a court of admiralty created by the Colonial Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890 had jurisdiction 'immediately prior to the commencement of this Act' (1 November 1983), the governing law is to be that of the United Kingdom. For other maritime claims as defined in the Act over which the colonial courts of admiralty had no jurisdiction, for instance, charterparties in general, 'Roman-Dutch law applicable in the Republic' is to be applied. Section 6(2) subjects all claims to relevant statute law.

Keywords

Commercial Law

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