A time-charter of a ship contained the following exceptions -‘The owners and charterers shall be mutually absolved from liability in carrying out this contract in so far as they may be hindered or prevented by . . strikes.’ The charterers ordered the ship to the port of N. at a time when to their knowledge a strike was there in operation. Owing to the strike the ship could not obtain a cargo at N. Under the charter-party the charterers could have withdrawn the vessel from the area of the strike and traded with it elsewhere. The charterers refused to pay hire for the period of the ship’s stay at N.
Held that the charterers were not protected by the exception, and were bound to pay the hire.
Judges:
Lord Chancellor (Loreburn), Lords Atkinson, Shaw, and Mersey
Citations:
[1911] UKHL 679
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Contract
Updated: 23 May 2022; Ref: scu.619213
