Statistics
Foreword to the Review of Judicial Practice
Statistics
Continuing the topic of selection of court cases for review discussed in the previous issue of the journal, as a preface to this review of judicial practice, we have prepared a statistical summary on the number of “maritime” cases considered by Russian courts in January-March this year. We still select cases for review, guided by two criteria: the case must be «maritime» and the case must be interesting. However, due to the subjectivity of the second criterion, we also believe that information on the total number of “marine” cases may be of interest from a research point of view.
Legal reference system “Garant” for January – March 2021 on the key topic “merchant shipping” finds 11 cases considered by arbitration courts of first instance, of which 8 are related to the topic of maritime law; on the topic “sea freight” – 3 cases; on the topic “captain of the seaport” – 5 cases, of which only 2 are related to the topic of maritime law; on the topic “maritime claims” / “sea vessel”, as well as cases where Merchant Shipping Code is mentioned – 17 cases, of which 12 are related to the subject of maritime law.
The rest of the “near-sea” topics are either indicated together with the above, or have nothing to do with the law of the sea in essence.
Most of the “maritime” cases during the period under review were considered by the courts of appeal.
83 appellate rulings contain a reference to the Merchant Shipping Code, however, only 41 cases of them are related to the law of the sea and only 30 cases are of interest from a legal point of view. The remaining 11 “maritime” cases deal with issues of bringing persons to administrative responsibility for administrative violations at sea, for tax violations.
Among the current 30 cases, the most common consideration is the issue of liability of persons for improper performance / non-performance of a time charter agreement – 15 cases. Most of the “maritime” cases were considered by the 5th Arbitration Court of Appeal – 14 out of 30 cases.
Thematic distribution of cases is as follows: see the Table on p. 10.
| Appellate court | Case categories |
|---|---|
| 3 AAS | – on responsibility for violation of obligations under the time charter agreement (1); – freight forwarding services (1) |
| 5 AAS | – on liability for violation of the bareboat charter obligation (1); – on responsibility for violation of an obligation from a time charter (6); – on liability for violation of an obligation from a transport expedition (1); – agency relations within the framework of a maritime obligation (1); – on the establishment / cancellation of interim measures (3); – insurance compensation (1); – about towing (1) |
| 6 AAS | – on liability for violation of an obligation from a time charter (1) |
| 9 AAS | – on liability for violation of an obligation from a time charter (3) |
| 13 AAS | – on compensation for harm to the environment – harm to water bodies (1); – on responsibility for violation of an obligation from a time charter (1); – on liability for violation of an obligation from a transport expedition (2) |
| 14 AAS | – on liability for violation of the obligation to pay for the repair of the ship (1) |
| 15 AAS | – on responsibility for violation of the time charter obligation (3); – on compensation for harm to the environment – harm to water bodies (1) |
| 21 AAS | – on the establishment / cancellation of interim measures (1) |
In the district arbitration courts, there are 26 cases in which Merchant Shipping Code is mentioned for January – March 2021. Among them are cases that are somehow related to the law of the sea – 14. In other cases, Merchant Shipping Code is mentioned only as an example of a law establishing special limitation periods / mandatory claim procedure. In most cases, such an accidental mention of the Merchant Shipping Code is typical for the AS of the Ural and Central districts.
Out of 14 cases related to the sea, there are 9 cases in the field of merchant shipping. In other cases, disputes relate to bankruptcy and tax law relations. The most interesting judicial acts are devoted to the following issues:
• on recovery of damage caused to property – 1 case;
• on liability for violation of obligations under time and bareboat charter agreements – 4 cases;
• on relations in the field of insurance – 1 case;
• on agency relations in the field of maritime law – 1 case;
• on compensation for harm caused to the environment – 2 cases.
Thus, in January – March 2021, the arbitration courts considered about 80 “maritime” cases. About 25 cases were considered by arbitration courts at first instance. During the period under review, 41 cases related to the sea were appealed, of which 30 cases were directly related to civil law relations in this area. In the cassation instance, in January – March 2021, 14 cases related to the sea were considered. Of these, only 9 relate to disputes arising in the framework of civil law relations.