Maritime law centre sets sail
Guest-of-Honour Mr Tan (2nd from right) and Prof Chesterman (2nd from left) launched the CML and MPA Professorship in Maritime Law, flanked by Prof Girvin (far right) and Associate Professor Paul Myburgh, CML Deputy Director
The Centre for Maritime Law (CML) and MPA Professorship in Maritime Law were launched on 3 September by Guest-of-Honour Mr Andrew Tan, CE, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Professor Simon Chesterman, Dean, NUS Faculty of Law (NUS Law) at Raffles Hotel. These initiatives deepened the strong partnership between NUS Law, the Ministry of Law, and MPA in boosting Singapore's expertise in maritime law research and thought leadership.
Elaborating on the centre's objectives, NUS Law Dean Professor Simon Chesterman said that they aimed to "reimagine the role that NUS Law plays in the legal sector more generally...If Singapore is to be a true global legal services centre, it needs to be seen as more than a venue for practising law. It must have an active role in shaping that law.
CML, NUS Law's sixth research centre, will focus on research in commercial maritime law, specifically issues related to international trade, transport and shipping law. The Centre will cover private shipping law and dispute settlement, such as maritime arbitration and the offshore sector, with its activities expected to enhance Singapore's profile as an International Maritime Centre. MPA, through the Singapore Maritime Institute, has set aside $2 million to support the running of CML over five years.
The MPA Professorship in Maritime Law builds on the $4 million MPA visiting professorship programme established in 2003, which enabled overseas academia to conduct courses for law students and members of the Singapore maritime community. The Professorship, supported by an additional $1 million from MPA, has been enhanced to strengthen the development of resident teaching expertise and anchor maritime legal research activities at NUS Law.
In his keynote speech, titled "Maritime Law in Singapore and Beyond ' Its Origins, Influence and Importance, The Honourable Justice Steven Chong, Supreme Court of Singapore, highlighted the significance of the Centre. He brought the audience through several maritime cases and their contribution to the development of law, as well as the influence of Singapore law in the development of maritime law internationally. Justice Chong said that the landmark decisions made at some of these cases heard in Singapore "bear testimony to our court's growing influence in this area of the law, which again serves to highlight the strategic importance of the Centre.
Justice Chong giving the keynote speech
A panel discussion followed after the keynote speech. One of the panellists was Mr Lawrence Teh, Partner, Rodyk and Davidson LLP and Administrator, Comité Maritime International (CMI), a non-governmental organisation contributing to the unification of maritime law. He suggested that CML could support "the acceptance of maritime conventions, many of which are the work of the CMI. Mr Leong Kah Wah, Head, Dispute Resolution, Rajah and Tann LLP and Member, CML Advisory Board, opined that the Centre conduct periodic reviews of "legislations and conventions, and seeing where we can improve.
Professor Stephen Girvin, CML Director and MPA Professor of Maritime Law, closed the panel discussion with a review of the teaching and research of maritime law. "The founding of the Centre for Maritime Law today is, I suggest, a positive force for good and one of our aims, among many, is to be at the forefront of scholarship in maritime law, he said.
See press release and media coverage.
