Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
Book review - “INTERNATIONAL MARITIME FRAUD”
By Eric Ellen and Donald Campbell Published by Sweet and Maxwell Ltd., London (1981, viii and 174 pp.) Limp £8.00
This is an interesting and very readable account of the growing problem of international maritime fraud. In 10 chapters and six appendices the authors provide a general account of the law and malpractice of carriage of goods by sea. The generality of treatment (apart from the detailed account of four important fraud cases) is both a strength and a weakness of the book. The generality of the book permits a “contextual” treatment of the problem. The national and international legal aspects are considered; legal and commercial controls are dealt with; civil and criminal rules are considered. In this way the authors are able to present a balanced account of the problem and the likely success (or lack of it) of various solutions. Unfortunately this has led at times to superficiality. The authors have, indeed, anticipated this criticism:
“This is not in any sense a technical manual for businessmen, lawyers, bankers or insurers so that each of them will find their own particular speciality covered in a simple manner. Each of them is asked, therefore, to be patient with the authors when these passages are reached and to bear in mind that other readers will profit from these relatively simple explanations”. (pp. v-vi.)
This may justify a simple text, but there is no reason why that objective cannot be achieved in tandem with the provision of at least some notes, references, or guidance for those who might wish to follow up certain points in greater detail. Very little information is given on the authors’ sources in respect of any of the issues raised.
Having said that, one must compliment the authors on raising the issues, and it is merely unfortunate that they chose to do so in a limited format which does not permit a more developed consideration of the points thrown up by the book. Thus, for example, the authors do not develop the issue of how vested national interests militate against an effective international approach to controlling maritime fraud and the conditions in which it thrives. The authors suggest a correlation between flags of convenience and some maritime fraud; they point out that investigation of the scuttling of the Salem (see Shell International Petroleum Co. Ltd. v. Gibbs [1982] 1 All E.R. 225, [1982] 1 All E.R. 1057) was not facilitated by the South African Government’s unwillingness to admit that the ship had been involved in the clandestine supply of crude oil to that country. But the wider implications of such examples for future success in controlling maritime fraud are not discussed.
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