General average is considered to be one of the most uniformly regulated topics of maritime law. This study concludes that this perception is flawed. The invariably applicable York-Antwerp Rules do not provide a full regime, whereas their applicability is generally contractual only. As a result, questions arise as to which law applies to general average obligations, how the applicable national law is to be determined (taking into consideration the impact of the European Rome I and II Regulatio...

Lawyers are taught to work with applicable law and to be familiar with the applicable law, they should 'keep up to date with their literature'. Here, in two sentences, the reality and ways of working of lawyers throughout the past century. Past because, in contemporary times, applicable law can no longer be easily 'recognised'. There is a knowing problem related to applicable law of European origin. This problem consists in two main questions: How are lawyers to know what applicable law is? A...

The legal position of the terminal operator changes by the integration of the carriage of goods between the sea port and the hinterland into his service profile. The terminal operator performs a wide variety of obligations, including loading and discharging, stacking, warehousing, measuring, weighing and carrying goods within and beyond the terminal's premises. These obligations fall into different categories of contracts for which the law provides specific rules, i.e. a contract of carriage,...