The towering reputation of the author and the great distinction of its editors have made Scrutton in no ordinary sense a classic of legal literature and it has been remarked that its editorship seems to have been a step to the judicial bench. This edition falls two years short of its centenary and it all but goes without saying that it maintains and enhances the exceptional standing of the work. Moreover, of the present editors, Sir Alan Mocatta has now been associated with the book for 45 years, an appreciably longer period than the author himself, and one which has seen immense changes in shipping law and practice.

Although recent editions have involved substantial rewriting, the general form and style of the book remain unchanged, uncompromisingly directed to the practitioner. A few brief but interesting historical items, such as paragraphs on the history of excepted perils at p. 210 and the note on the former importance of ships’ cats at p. 232, merely serve to point out the severity with which the text sticks to its last and strict economy extends to matters of more general law marginal to the main substance of the book.

Much has happened in the 10 years since the last edition. Over 500 new cases have been added, about half directly involving shipping law, though the editors do point out that they have omitted a number of shipping cases which settle only minor or non-shipping points. Increased use of time charters is reflected in an expansion of the section devoted to them and demurrage has produced a crop of cases on voyage charters. While the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1924 retires to an appendix, a meticulous scrutiny of the Act of 1971 and the Hague-Visby Rules reveals an alarming number of problems which invite litigation, all clearly of practical significance, ranging from the types of voyages and documents to which the Rules apply and their statutory effect to the doubt expressed at p. 455 as to whether roll-on, roll-off lorries are “articles of transport” similar to containers and pallets within Art. IV, Rule 5(c). The sections of the Merchant Shipping Act 1979 covering limitation of liability and the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 also appear in appendices but adoption of the Hamburg Rules is regarded as too remote to justify discussion. The law is stated as at July 1984 so that Leigh and Sillivan v. Aliakmon Shipping [1985] Q.B. 350 appeared too late for inclusion, even in its preliminary reports.

Karl Llewellyn’s well-known panegyric ((1936) 36 Columbia Law Review 699, 699–702) on the author (“a matchless commercial lawyer”) also included his books (“for fifty years he enriched legal literature by books which are classics …”) and would certainly have been extended to this edition. Nevertheless, there are points where a little further guidance might have been afforded to the reader. Thus the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 go unmentioned, though the latter Act might have been cited at Arts. 118 and 119 on