A. Introduction

5.001 The purpose of this chapter is to provide an historical overview of the development of European Union (“EU”) shipping law.1 While there is an obvious overlap with other chapters, a separate chapter providing an historical overview is valuable to provide a background and a context to the rest of the book and to convey a sense of how the law on this area has evolved. It is proposed to analyse the development of EU shipping law using seven time-periods: (a) the 1950s; (b) the 1960s; (c) the 1970s; (d) the 1980s; (e) the 1990s; (f) the 2000s; and (g) the 2010s. While there is an obvious limitation to presenting the issues using the rubric of decades, it has a certain simplicity which facilitates the narrative.