Lloyd's Shipping & Trade Law

Two admiralty cases of rather different natures rounded off an otherwise modest year for case law. First, Argentum Exploration Ltd v The Silver and All Persons Claiming to be Interested in and/or to Have Rights in Respect of, The Silver [2020] EWHC 3434 (Admlty) concerned the sovereign immunity of the Republic of South Africa in the context of admiralty proceedings.

Sections 10 and 11 of the Insurance Act 2015 apply to all warranties, and terms that do not define the risk as a whole, respectively. It is clear that this includes the implied terms in the Marine Insurance Act 1906, and that both sections will apply to warranties that do not define the risk as a whole. What is less clear, and arguably was not considered during the drafting of the Insurance Act 2015, is precisely how they will apply.

Demurrage

Which is the law of the arbitration agreement where the underlying contract is silent on that point? The Supreme Court has given an answer in Enka Insaat ve Sanayi AS v OOO “Insurance Company Chubb” [2020] UKSC 38; [2020] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 449.