Admiralty Jurisdiction Law and Practice Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia

• Author: Nigel Meeson
• Position: Nigel Meeson Q.C. FCI Arb, Conyers Dill & Pearman, Hong Kong
• Pages: 147-148

(2016) 30 ANZ Mar LJ

147

BOOK REVIEW

Damien J Creme an, Admiralty Jurisdiction La w and Practice

Australia, New Ze aland, Sing apore , Hong Kong and Malaysia . Federa tion Press (4th

ed, 2015). 352 pp

ISBN: 9781862879973

Nig e l Mee son*

Damien Cremean is to be commended for the latest edition of his ever expanding Asia Pacific focused account of

Admiralty law. In 7 years he has his enlarged his original Australian work (the first ed ition) to include the laws

of neighbouring New Zealand (the second edition) and thence to Hong Kong and Singapore (the third edition)

and now in the Fourth edition to take in Malaysia. By so doing he has created a very useful account of the various

statutory provisions of thi s region, together with an examination of the local case-law. Although the Admiralty

law in these jurisdictions stem from the same English law rootstock, the courts i n this region they have not

hesitated to depart from English case law where they consider it is necessary to do so. For thi s reason it is

necessary to have a work such as this to highlight these differences not only as there may be from Englis h law,

but also as bet ween the different jurisdictions. Although the advent of the internet has made access to case law

in different jurisdictions easier, it is of no use simply to pluck a decision from one jurisdiction without

understanding the context in which it has been given. This context may include subtle differences in the statutory

provisions or some divergence in the case law. It is these features which Cremean is able to highlight in this very

useful book.

The structure of the book follows a conventional approach and is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 is an

Introduction covering the nature and origin of Admiralty Jur isdiction and then providing an overview of the five

jurisdictions. Chapter 2 covers Courts and jurisdiction b efore turning the meat of the subj ect in Chapter 3

Admiralty Claims and Chapter 4 Practice and Procedure. It is perhaps an interesting observation that each Chapter

gets progressively longer which highlig hts just how important practice and procedure are to this ar ea of the law,

arguably more so than in any other are of the law.

In Chapter 1 section 3 “Local Development” explains how these 5 jurisdictions obtained their current jurisdiction,

and how their respective Admiralty jurisdictions had developed through their differing colonial history. However

of more relevance are the following sections which deal respec tively with the present day and provide a

jurisdictional overview of Australia and New Zealand (section 4) and Singapore, Hong Kong and Mala ysia

(section 5). Thus in section 4 there is a discussion of the principles of statutory construction which have bee n

applied by courts in Australia to the construction of the Admiralty Act 1988 (Cth) as well as noting that the

Australian Act distinguishes “proprietary” maritime claims from “general” maritime claims. In section 5 it is

observed that Malaysia is unique in that it defines its Admiralty jurisdiction by reference to the English 1981 Act.

Finally section 6 covers the constitutional issues which may arise in Australia, which will of course be of particular

importance to Australian practitioners.

Chapter 2 entitled “Courts and Jurisdiction” delves into greater detail of the themes established in sections 4 and

5 of Chapter 1. There is an interesting discussion of the problems thrown up by the English House of Lords

decision in Republic of India v India Steamship Co. Ltd. (no.2) [1988] AC 878 regarding the nature of an

Admiralty action in rem and how courts in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore have not felt obliged to follow

that decision.

The book really comes into its own in Chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 3, “Admiralty Claims”, identifies in each of the

5 jurisdictions being considered the various heads of claim which give rise to claims within the Admiralty

jurisdiction. In relation to each one it provides the statutory head of jurisdiction and compares the wording of

each across the different jurisdictions. It notes that t he posi tion in Australia is different to the other jurisdictions

which more closely follow the English heads of jurisdiction. Thus in Australia alone there is Admiralty

jurisdiction in respect of the following claims:

(i) Mortgage of a ship’s freight;

(ii) A claim for the satisfaction or enforcement of a judgment given by a court (including the court of a foreign

country) against a ship or other property in a proceeding in rem in the nature of a proceeding in Admiralty;1

* Nigel Meeson Q.C. FCI Arb, Conyers Dill & Pearman, Hong Kong

1 Although a similar jurisdiction exists under the inherent jurisdiction in the others: The “City of Mecca” (1897) 5 P.D. 28