This book, which started life as a doctoral dissertation at McGill University, comes with the twin attractions of an intriguing title and a recommendation in its preface by Professor William Tetley, Q.C. It sets out its analysis of the terms implied into voyage charters by comparing the common law approach of the English and American courts with the civil law approach of the French courts and the courts of Quebec.

After an analysis of the general principles of contract law relating to implied terms, it goes on to consider in detail the following implied undertakings of the shipowner the undertaking of seaworthiness; the undertaking to proceed with reasonable despatch and to exercise reasonable care; and the duty to proceed without deviation. It then proceeds to examine the implied undertakings of the charterer: to nominate a safe port and/or berth; and not to ship dangerous goods. It then considers the doctrine of frustration, although the purist might entertain doubts as to whether this has any place in a work on implied terms. It concludes with a call for an International Convention to regulate the whole question of implied terms.

A comparison of the common law and the civilian approaches to such implied terms is something which should prove of use both to the practitioner and to the academic, and this book, by and large, acquits itself well in this task. However, I believe this part of the book could have been improved in the following respects. First, those parts which deal with the law of France and Quebec refer extensively to historic codes, such as the Laws of Oleron, without always making it clear how these shed light on current law. Furthermore, the extensive quotations from the relevant Civil Codes are given in French, without any English translation. Given that the book is published in the English language, this oversight is particularly unfortunate. Secondly, much of the material could apply equally to time charters and to bills of lading. It would have been interesting to have seen some examination of how implied terms might function in contexts unique to voyage charters, such as laytime and demurrage. The substantial analysis of the basic principles of implied terms is also perhaps overlong if it is followed only by an analysis of those implied terms which are already well established. Thirdly, the author will sometimes raise an interesting point which he will not then go on to develop. An example is given by his discussion of The Evia (No. 2) [1983] 1 A.C. 736, where he states (p. 163), “Unfortunately, their Lordships declined to consider whether or not the same principles relating to the charterer’s secondary obligation [to renominate] apply to voyage charters”. Some further analysis of the problem is really called for in a specialist monograph such as this.

As indicated above, the work concludes with a call for an International Convention on the terms to be implied into voyage charters. The author’s case is based primarily on the perceived need for uniformity. This case is largely undermined by the evidence in the book of the widespread use of some version of the “clause paramount” in the standard forms of voyage charter. Furthermore, he fails to deal with the question of why the drafters of the most recent International Convention on the carriage of goods by sea, the Hamburg Rules, saw fit to exclude charterparties from their ambit. Indeed, the Hamburg Rules are completely overlooked in this work.

The Convention proposed would leave current English law largely unchanged except in two areas. First, the author proposes an extension of the qualified warranty of seaworthiness under the Hague and Hague-Visby Rules so as to oblige the shipowner to maintain the vessel’s seaworthiness throughout the voyage. The mischief to which this solution is addressed applies equally to bills of lading and will not really be solved until a majority of trading nations adopt the Hamburg Rules in place of the Hague or Hague-Visby Rules. Secondly, the author proposes extending the provisions of the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943 to voyage charters. A reading of this work left me unconvinced of the need for such an extension on either legal or commercial grounds.