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Brandt v Liverpool contract does not give the English Court jurisdiction (Pan Ocean Co v China-Base Group)

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Published on: 18 April 2019

Published by a LexisNexis Dispute Resolution expert

Table of contents

What was the background?
What did the court decide?

Article summary

Dispute Resolution analysis: Shipping lawyers could have been forgiven for thinking that the Brandt v Liverpool contract—an implied contract between shipowner and cargo receiver on the terms of a bill of lading—was all but extinct. The repeal of the Bills of Lading Act 1855 and its replacement by the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992 has removed the need for a Brandt v Liverpool contract in most circumstances. However, this recent case considers the novel question of whether an English court jurisdiction clause in a Brandt v Liverpool contract could found jurisdiction under Regulation (EU) 1215/2015, Brussels I (recast). Written by Michael Collett QC and Charlotte Tan, of 20 Essex Street, who successfully represented the defendants.

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