1 Introduction
In my article in SIMPLY 2020,(1)2 Solvang, The relationship between nautical fault and initial unseaworthiness under the Hague-Visby Rules – with critical remarks on the Norwegian Supreme Court’s methodology in adjudication, SIMPLY/MarIus No.551, 2021, pp 32 et seq.. That article discussed i.a. the English Court of Appeal decision the Libra (ch. 4.5.). Subsequently the U.K. Supreme Court rendered its decision in that case, upholding the result but differing on central aspects of reasoning, [2021] UKSC 51.we looked at various aspects of the Norwegian Supreme Court case the Sunna, asking how the Norwegian court instances decided the case, including their ways of reasoning, while also considering the same topic within an international context, by looking at the origin of the Hague and Hague-Rules (HVR) and a selection of foreign case law.
We now move away from having the Sunna case as the main subject of our analyses, and instead use that case as a stepping stone into adjacent areas of law at the core of the Hague-Visby Rules (HVR) system of risk allocation. The common denominator in the sections that follow is the phenomenon of causation relating to our overriding topic: the relationship between nautical fault and initial unseaworthiness. Such questions of causation are potentially complex, and the approach to their resolution may differ between various legal systems. Still, they are at the heart of endeavours to harmonize the law under the HVR, hence it is worth attempting an analysis from a comparative law perspective.