The introduction of the 2016 edition of the York-Antwerp Rules (YAR) has provided Rose with the opportunity to produce the third edition of this book, incorporating a general update of relevant law and practice. Given that the shipping parties are free to contract on whichever version of the YAR they wish, if any, all four (1974, 1994, 2004 and 2016) YAR versions are well woven into this volume. This book consists of seven chapters, with seventeen very useful documents appended. Those documents range from statutory material, to Lloyd’s forms, material concerning the York-Antwerp Rules, and various insurance clauses. Also appended is a very useful table comparing the various versions of the York-Antwerp Rules, as well as the CMI Guidelines relating to General Average (2016). The book could well be described as a handy and thorough capsule of the law concerning general average.

General average is a good example of an area of law where there are few definitive answers but more a collection of signposts guiding parties to a resolution. In the Preface to the third edition, Rose rightly places the law of General Average at the junction of the law of carriage of goods by sea, marine insurance and unjust enrichment. This is a development of the commentary of Lord Steyn, who rightly noted in his foreword to the first edition of this title that general average is a legal facility arising from maritime equity. It is for this reason that so many lawyers, as noted by Niekerk in his review