2.3 The charter party issue
In 1973, an important issue was whether registration of charter parties should be allowed. The maritime committee’s proposal, which was eventually enacted, was that neither voyage/time charter parties nor bare boat charter parties could be registered. This was due to considerations of specific performance: registration implies the right to demand specific performance of the contract. In Leie av skib (1969) p. 580 I have summarized this as follows:
“Regarding ordinary charter parties the committee finds that regardless of the present legal regime the best argument de lege ferenda is that specific performance cannot be demanded. The committee acknowledges that circumstances are different for straightforward bare boat charters, but it is nonetheless proposed that such agreements cannot be registered, because ‘it is legally-technically difficult to distinguish between bare boat charters and voyage/time charters’.”