The Law Enacted March 30, 1982 Establishing the Maritime Court of Panama and Governing its Procedure

A new forum has been created in Panama which has a view toward serving the international maritime community and world commerce. Those who participated in its creation feel a part of that perennial enterprise stretching in time, from the spice trade with the Indies to the carriage of North Slope oil from Alaska. Commerce has always been a means — today, with the proliferation of critical confrontations, it is practically the only means — of coherent and pacific intercourse between nations. Those who play a role in making, interpreting, and enforcing the rules that maintain the viability of such an enterprise are verily manning the ramparts of civilization.  

The Carriage of Goods: Hague, Cogsa, Visby, and Hamburg

The story of pre-Harter Act carriage, leading to the Harter Act, and in turn to the Hague Rules, is so familiar to the practicing admiralty lawyer that it is only with great diffidence and reticence that one approaches it at all. It was first told in 1920 and has been repeated many times since then.Why tell it again? A relatively brief and rather elementary resumé might bring into sharper focus the great difference between the Harter Act-Hague Rules philosophy and the attitudes and philosophy which now are being advanced in certain areas. This review is not intended to be, and is not, a detailed and learned recitation of familiar history; it is no more than a cursory introduction to the current situation surrounding the Visby and Hamburg Rules.