Master in Maritime Law

The module will examine the following issues: introduction to common law systems, sources of English law, the structure of English courts, introduction to key international courts and their jurisdiction, essentials of legal analysis (eg, legal research methods, critical evaluation, analysis of legislation and case law).

The module provides to students in depth knowledge of the mechanisms to conclude and perform international contracts, understanding the principles and challenges of commercial transactions and the regulatory regime for international business.

Students will be also exposed to global and regional regulation of international trade, structuring and managing international business transactions and solving cross-border commercial disputes.

The primary objectives of this course are to introduce students to the main non binding dispute resolution procedures and to help prepare them to be able to use such procedures to promote clients&interests. In essence, the course is about facilitative settlement negotiations in which disputants are encouraged to negotiate directly with each other before any other legal process, mediation, arbitration systems, expert determination, and early neutral evaluation.

The course then proceeds to an in-depth exploration of mediation in a concrete way in terms of international enforcement of mediation agreements under the Singapore Mediation Convention and online dispute resolution.

The module will provide students with an understanding of the contracts pertaining to the carriage of goods by sea as well as the legal principles surrounding those and other issues relating to enforcement of rights of the parties involved.

This module provides an understanding and analysis of voyage and time charters, Hague-Visby Rules & Rotterdam Rules and bills of lading.
Students will be familiarised with legal concepts, terminology and operation of different charterparties and will be able to compare voyage and time charters and examine the obligations and liabilities of the owner and the charterer. Common charterparty disputes and key legal aspects and terms such as seaworthiness,
safe port, preliminary voyage, arrived ship, notice of readiness, loading operation, freight, laytime and demurrage, off-hire, trading limits, bunkers quality and quantity, cargo contamination, sanctions, energy efficiency and “green” emissions, etc will be analyzed and supported by case law and case studies.

The module provides students with an understanding of the law surrounding maritime transport and specific issues parties are facing such as collision of vessels, oil pollution stemming from maritime incidents, liens and maritime claims etc.

The module will analyse in depth:

a) the definition of vessel in maritime legislation and international Conventions and the new regime for autonomous vessels;
b) the status and potential liabilities of shipowner during maritime operations;
c) the carriage of passengers & luggage by sea (Athens Convention),
d) collision of ships,
e) salvage,
f) securities, liens and priorities;
g) the arrest of ships and enforcement of maritime claims;
h) the limitation of liability for maritime claims

The module exposes students to contemporary perspectives in academic research, and in particular focuses on developing a range of skills affecting the identification and formulation of project titles. Special focus is placed on the critical review of available literature and information resources, the use of online databases and other sources.

Emphasis is given to the methods used in scientific research, reviewing a range of statistical and non-statistical methods of analyses appropriate for projects in terms of both qualitative and quantitative research. Finally, students will become aware of any research issues associated with conducting research.

The module will provide students with an understanding of the various corporate structures implemented within the shipping industry and the considerations behind these. The necessary theoretical company law background will be provided to students through an analysis of the English system and such background will be related to three of the most commonly used jurisdictions within shipping being Marshall Islands, Liberia and Greece, the latter especially through an analysis of the corporate aspects of ship management.

The module will then provide an understanding of the tax considerations applicable in the shipping industry and a comparative analysis will be made between the most popular shipping tax regimes with a deeper highlight of the Greek shipping regime with a deeper analysis of its benefits and the challenges it is facing.

The module will also examine the common structure of a ship financing transaction, the legal aspects of financing a shipping purchase or newbuilding.

Practical examples will be provided throughout the teaching of the module in order to provide students with real life examples of those structures.

The module will provide students with an understanding of the law relating to the insurance of vessels, hull and machinery and cargo on board ships and the formation, principles and enforcement of insurance contracts in the maritime industry. It provides an overview of the basic principles of a marine insurance contract, identifies the parties to such contract and its various forms and types, discusses the way that it is concluded and the role of brokers and analyses related fundamental concepts, such as indemnity, premium, insurable interest, utmost good faith and assignment of policy.

It also explores and analyses the way a marine insurance contract operates and discusses topics related to the classification of the contractual terms, the doctrine of proximate cause, the insured and excluded perils and the duty to sue and labour.

Finally, it considers issues of indemnity, explains the nature of losses, distinguishes  between total and partial loss, as well as particular and general average loss and particular charges and discusses subrogation and contribution.