Southampton Student Law Review

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Latest documents

• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Determining A Comprehensive Test for Defining a Ship

  A ship is one of the core elements of the maritime industry. However, the international maritime industry and academia do not agree upon a single, universal definition of this term. International conventions like the UNCLOS are silent about this definition, while others give a very purposive definition incapable of universal application. Similarly, a study of the English jurisprudence related to this definition establishes navigational ability as a sine-qua-non for an object's categorization as a ship. Canadian and Australian courts substantially align with English law. However, European jurisdictions like France and Germany emphasize on the ability to float. Characters of a ship cannot be restricted to navigational and floating ability. Through a comparative analysis of English law with these jurisdictions, this paper proposes that 'the elephant test' or layman's perspective maybe the logical way of defining a ship, considering the contradictory opinions and variety of approaches. This test adopts the viewpoint of a gentleman who may not be able to define an elephant or a ship but will recognize them when he comes across one

• An analysis of the one breach, two kinds of loss scenario in terms of the demurrage

  Demurrage is liquidated damage stipulated in the voyage charterparty for compensating the shipowner if the charterer failed to complete cargo operation within the laytime. However, when the charterer's failing to load or discharge in time causes loss other than the detention, what damages demurrage can compensate is in dispute. In the case Eternal Bliss, 72 Andrew Baker J, the High Court judge, refused to follow the long-standing case The Bonde, 73 holding that Potter J (judge in The Bonde)'s understanding of the case Suisse Atlantique74 is wrong. He concluded that demurrage only covers the loss of the detention of the ship after the analysis of former case law. However, the Court of Appeal's approach is in different prospect, mainly focusing on maintaining commercial certainty. Both approaches have their own strong reasons, and this article will analyse both points of view by adopting a critical approach

• Long-term Property Relationships: Evaluating the utility of learning from Relational Contract Theory
• The insurer should be liable for any losses suffered by the assured after scratching an MRC/Slip, A discussion
• The Impact of the International Criminal Court's Juridical Context and Jurisdiction on its Ability to Effectively Deter the Crime of Aggression

  International law is not bound by statutes, making it a fragmented legal framework rather than a unified code. It operates on the principle of state cooperation in upholding justice in good faith. This article aims to explore the judicial challenges that the ICC encounters in effectively deterring the Crime of Aggression, while also addressing broader structural limitations within the international legal system. The study adopts a qualitative approach, delving into theoretical issues that underpin the ICC, such as the absence of precedents and limited jurisdiction. The recent Russian invasion of Ukraine presented an opportunity for the ICC to demonstrate its role in promoting accountability and justice; unfortunately, this expectation was not met. Although the obstacles faced by the ICC do not diminish its moral significance and symbolic influence, they undermine the court's ability to fulfil its primary objective of ending impunity

• Defining Genocide: how the crime without a name became the 'crime of crimes

  This article sets out the nature, history and convoluted structure of the crime of genocide, by providing a comprehensive analysis of how genocide has been defined within international law. The Nuremberg Trials demonstrated the need for a new international crime to comprehend the gravity of the acts perpetrated by the Nazi regime. However, the enactment of the Genocide Convention created tension with crimes against humanity as ad hoc tribunal jurisprudence has pushed the boundaries of interpreting genocide as the most serious international crime, generating an impunity gap against crimes against humanity. The narrowness of the Convention has risked demeaning the true horrors of other international crimes, but the recognition of crimes against humanity to be committed during peacetime in the International Criminal Court has filled that lacuna. This article has captured what makes the crime of genocide the 'crime of crimes' by assessing the intricacy of the Convention's stringent criteria and analysing ad hoc jurisprudence which has placed a stigma on genocide, positioning it at the apex of the pyramid of international crimes. This thesis has concluded that the force of genocide as the 'crime of crimes' should not be relinquished, this is because the magnitude of this crime is specified within the rigorous criteria of genocidal intent

• Foreword
• Weak and Strong-Form Review: The Incurable Judicial Mistake of Striking Down and Refusing to Recognise Primary Legislation

  This paper covers the deplorability of the strong-form version of judicial review, focusing on both the commonwealth and American jurisdictions, engaging a critical analysis of the action of judges striking down or refusing to recognise politically legitimately enacted primary legislation. That perspective is in aid of endorsing its counterpart system, the weak-form version of judicial review, considering a modern political and legal environment rife with issues of judicial overreach and undemocratic political interference. This paper seeks to highlight such issues prevalent within strong-form review and render such a system untenable. Its context will provide an analysis of the incompatibility between judges and policy issues, warning against such political overreach and interference inherent within the act of providing any determination as to the enforcement of primary legislation. Further, this paper locates the democratic deficit prevalent within the judicial usurpation of those political powers from elected representatives and the represented, in the act of striking down or refusing to recognise democratically deliberated and enacted primary legislation. Finally, this paper will conclude on a critical response to the purported claim that commonwealth jurisdictions, as an archetype for the weak-form model, function as strong-form systems in application, preferring the strong-form judicial supremacy towards primary legislation and the blurred separation of powers it entails.

Featured documents

• Birks and the Absence of Basis Approach

  The theoretical basis of the law of unjust enrichment can be traced back many centuries, though the most significant developments have only occurred in the last fifty years. Professor Peter Birks has played a pivotal role in the development of the law of unjust enrichment, advocating its importance ...

• Masefield AG v Amlin Corporate Member Ltd: Case comment
• The Restriction of the Power of the Courts to Stay Proceedings in Favour of More Appropriate International Courts: The Decision in Owusu v Jackson

  The judgment in Owusu v Jackson has provided an answer to the controversy over whether courts of EU Member States have discretion to stay proceedings in favour of courts of non-Member States. Specifically, the European Court of Justice established that the doctrine of forum non conveniens could not ...

• Political Constitutionalism and Legal Constitutionalism: Where does the Judiciary Lie at the Heart of this Tension?

  This article discusses the current tension between political and legal constitutionalism and the position of the judiciary within this debate. A brief historical analysis is used to outline the UK’s traditional political constitutional system, before being contrasted with this newly developing...

• The Duty of Pre-Contractual Disclosure in English Insurance Law: Past and Future - Does the Law Need to be Changed?

  Currently UK insurance law as a whole is subject to reform and change. One particularly interesting change surrounds the duty of pre-contractual disclosure. Royal Assent has been given to the Insurance Law Act 2015 (in force from August 2016) whereby the law should become more consumer-friendly and ...

• Escape From Uncertainty: Article 4(3) Rome I Regulation

  The Rome I Regulation is a European Union (EU) conflict of laws regime that provides the rules for determining which national law should govern contractual obligations in civil and commercial matters. This article will consider how the escape clause contained in Article 4(3) Rome I Regulation...

• Copyright protection of TV Formats in the UK: Banner Universal Motion Pictures Ltd v. Endemol Shine Group Ltd [2017] EWHC 2600 (Ch)

  In its decision of 19th October 2017, the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division (EWHC) held that under Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 ("CDPA"), a creator of a TV format is entitled to obtain copyright protection by complying with two minimum standards. The first standard being that there ...

• Are the Genetic Resources in Areas Beyond National Jurisdictions Subject to the 'Genetic Heritage of Mankind' Principle?

  It is uncertain whether the genetic resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction are subject to the common heritage of mankind (CHM) or freedom of the high seas principle. This uncertainty is intensified, as the regime governing the Area is itself fragmented, leading to considerable tensions...

• Acknowledgements
• Out with the Old, in with the New? Comparing the 1992 US Horizontal Merger Guidelines with the 2010 US Horizontal Merger Guidelines

  In 2010, new merger guidelines were adopted by the US antitrust agencies on the assessment of mergers between competitors under competition law. This paper critically compares such horizontal guidelines with their 1992 predecessor to analyse the extent to which there is continuity between the two....