The trade of shipping is necessarily international in nature. Courts and international bodies often
express the need to ensure international consistency in matters of maritime law. However, it has
been an extremely difficult goal to achieve. Many countries have refused to be party to international
conventions that seek to ensure comity. Some have enacted laws that reflect part but not all of those
conventions, or seek to improve the protection offered by the conventions. The domestic law of each
country also adds its own flavour to shipping law as recognised and applied by the courts in that
jurisdiction.
In 1974 Australia enacted the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (TPA), heralding a new era in
corporate and commercial law. However, its impact on maritime law on Australia has only been felt
over the last 10 15 years. It is potentially relevant to many areas of maritime law, including
carriage of goods by sea, cruise ships, and towage. This thesis explores the encroachment of the
TPA on a number of different areas of shipping law, using the few case examples on offer and
extrapolating the impact that the TPA may have. It also considers the extent to which the TPA is
stymied by simple contractual agreements to litigate or arbitrate in a non Australian forum, despite
the TPAs status as a mandatory statute within Australia.
Raised at various points in the thesis is the possibility of law reform, which is a complex compendium
of issues overlaid with a moral dimension does shipping, as an industry, deserve to be exempted
from the operation of the Act which sets a high standard of corporate behaviour? If so, how could
that reform be shaped? In the meantime, what steps can the shipping industry take to work within
the legal framework of the TPA?
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/204530 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | k.lewins@murdoch.edu.au, Kate Lewins |
| Publisher | Murdoch University |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.murdoch.edu.au/goto/CopyrightNotice, Copyright Kate Lewins |
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