Battling with waves and lawyers : $b a genuine history of perils of the deep and an authentic record of the most important shipping case ever dealt with in the supreme courts of Australasia
History
Battling with waves and lawyers : $b a genuine history of perils of the deep and an authentic record of the most important shipping case ever dealt with in the supreme courts of Australasia
Alert (Ship : 1877-1893); Liability for marine accidents; Navigation -- Australia -- History; Shipwrecks -- Australia -- Victoria
have improved her trim, and putting it further forward would only
have been one step better. It was no detriment, but an advantage,
from the plaintiff’s point of view, to the ship’s sea-worthiness. He
considered the verdict on the present evidence quite unsatisfactory
and against the weight of it. He had not overlooked the rule relating
to juries, which was sometimes considered to amount to this—that the
court should not disturb even an absurd verdict as long as it was not
insane. The latest view of the Privy Council in Aitken v. M’Meikan on
this point was that which bound the court, and, though it laid down
no rule of general application, it was decided on a ground applicable
here. The evidence for the plaintiff ran in a different plane from
that for the defendants, and regarding that fact and that the jury
had never considered the case in its true legal aspect, he thought
there must be a new trial. Verdict for plaintiff set aside, and new
trial granted, with costs, the costs of the former trial to abide the
event of the new trial.
MR. JUSTICE HODGES agreed that there should be a new trial. In the
face of the evidence, the verdict, he considered, was one which
reasonable men could not find. He desired to say nothing as to the
extent to which the certificate of the Marine Board was conclusive
as to the sea-worthiness of the vessel.
MR. JUSTICE HOOD concurred, because he saw no evidence to justify
a jury acting by reason and not by sympathy in finding that the
defendants had not taken all reasonable care to make this ship
sea-worthy. They had done all that the Act of Parliament required
them to do. Competent men had examined their vessel, and these men
had informed them that there was nothing wrong with her, and that she
was perfectly fit to go to sea. As against that the plaintiff had
proved nothing, but desired it to be laid down that, no matter what
the owners of ships did, if an accident happened and a jury could be
persuaded that the defendants were to blame, there was an end of it.
In his opinion that would be legislating and not interpreting the Act
of Parliament. It would be to say that shipowners were required to
warrant the safety and sea-worthiness of their ships, and that was
more than the law required them to do.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account