General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3138 |
| Course name: | Carriage of Goods by Sea |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | First |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | International trade and economic law |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
This is a half-semester intensive course, the purpose of which is to introduce students to the basic common law framework of the contract for the carriage of goods by sea, which together with the contract for international sale is the basis of international trade the world over, and to show students how to analyse disputes occurring in this context – of which in seaports such as Hong Kong there are many. It is a course on common law and international conventions, some form of which governs a large proportion of such contracts. If the law of a non-common law country, for example China, Korea or Japan, governs the contract, the reasoning used would be likely to be different; but it would be recognisably similar because the institutions of maritime law contain many common features known to all who transact business or advise in the area.
The following topics will be covered:
- Types of contract for the carriage of goods by sea.
- Express and implied terms in contracts of affreightment (concerning seaworthiness, deviation, dangerous cargo, laytime, demurrage etc).
- Voyage charterparties and time charterparties.
- Bills of lading and other sea transport documents (e.g. waybills, delivery orders).
- The Hague and Hague-Visby Rules.
- Effects of bills lading issued where ship under charter.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Liang ZHAO | TBA | TBA | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Understand shipping practice and basic rules in carriage of goods by sea.
CLO 2 Describe and explain the common issues in carriage of goods by sea law.
CLO 3 Analise relevant standard terms and contracts in carriage of goods by sea.
CLO 4 Apply common law and international conventions to solve practical problems.
CLO 5 Demonstrate independent thinking on development of law on carriage of goods by sea.
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation | N/A | 10% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | |
| Essay | 30 Nov 2023 | 40% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | |
| Take home exam | 10 Dec 2023 | 50% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Lecture: | 3 hour-seminar in an intensive mode in September 2023 |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | John F Wilson, Carriage of Goods by Sea, Longman; 7th edition 2010 |
| Recommended reading list: | Foxton, David [et al.] Scrutton on Charterparties and Bills of Lading, Sweet & Maxwell, 24th Edition 2021 |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/