Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
CHANGES IN ADMIRALTY COURT PROCEDURE
John A Kimbell*
CPR 61 and PD 61 amended
As part of the 104th update to the Civil Procedure Rules, a number of significant changes to the procedure of the Admiralty Court came into force on 6 April 2019.1 The new rules are the product of a review by the Admiralty Court Committee (“ACC”), which acts as a forum for contact and consultation between the Admiralty Court and its users.2 Practitioner representatives drawn from the Admiralty Bar Group3 and the Admiralty Solicitors Group4 are members, along with the judicial office holders of the Admiralty Court.5
The amendments have two aims:
- (a) to fill the gap in the present rules highlighted by the decision of the Court of Appeal in The Atlantik Confidence 6 and provide a flexible mechanism for the constitution of limitation funds;
- (b) to improve and update Admiralty Court procedure in a number of other areas where the ACC considered this to be desirable.
1. The limitation amendments
In The Atlantik Confidence, the Court of Appeal held that shipowners and certain other defined persons7 have the right under the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 (to which the United Kingdom is a party8) to limit their liability for maritime claims by providing security in the form of an undertaking or guarantee. However, until the present amendments came into force on 6 April, the procedural rules of the Admiralty Court rules did not provide a means by which orders of this type could be obtained. Indeed, a reader of the unamended CPR Part 61 and PD61 would be forgiven for concluding (as Simon J did at first instance in the Atlantik Confidence
9) that in England the only way to constitute a fund was to pay money into court.10
The inconsistency between substantive Admiralty law and Admiralty procedure has now been removed. The amended Part 61.11(18) now expressly provides:
* QC; Barrister, Quadrant Chambers, London; Deputy High Court Judge.
1. www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/pdf/update/cpr-104thpd-update-signed.pdf.
2. The Commercial Court Guide (incorporating the Admiralty Court Guide), 10th edn (2017), § N2.1.
3. www.admiraltybar.org.
4. www.admiraltysolicitorsgroup.com.
5. The Admiralty Judge (currently Sir Nigel Teare), the Admiralty Registrar (currently Jervis Kay QC) and the Admiralty Marshal (currently Paul Farren).
6. Kairos Shipping Ltd v Enka & Co Llc (The Atlantik Confidence) [2014] EWCA Civ 217; [2014] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 586.
7. As defined in the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 (LLMC 1976), Art.1. In addition to shipowners, the persons entitled to limit are: salvors, charterers, managers and operators.
8. LLMC 1976 is now incorporated into English Law by the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, s.185 and Sch.7.
9. [2013] EWHC 1904 (Comm); [2013] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 535.
10. The old procedure is described in P Griggs, R Williams and J Farr, Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims, 4th edn (Informa, London, 2013), pp. 62–69, the text of which predates the decision of the Court of Appeal in the Atlantik Confidence. See too N Meeson and J Kimbell, Admiralty Jurisdiction and Practice, 5th edn (Informa, London, 2018) (hereafter “Meeson & Kimbell”), [8.142–8.145].
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