Quantum Corporation Inc and Ors v Plane Trucking Ltd and Anr - Court of Appeal (Aldous, Mance and Latham LJJ) - 27 March 2002

Carriage of goods by air and by road - Whether CMR Convention applies where contract embraces both air and road carriage

This appeal raised a point of principle regarding the applicability of the CMR Convention ("CMR") scheduled to the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965 in circumstances where a contract embraced more than one type of carriage. At first instance Tomlinson J concluded that the correct approach was to characterise the contract as a whole, and that, unless the contract as a whole could be said to be for carriage by road internationally, any road carriage which it embraced fell outside the terms of the Convention. The claimants appealed to the Court of Appeal.