Abstract
Specialized judges are in principle unknown to the Dutch legal system. A judge or president of a chamber need not sit in the same chamber for more than four years.1 It is quite remarkable, therefore, that Erades presided over the Rotterdam District Court Chamber dealing with actions relating to the carriage of goods, in particular carriage by sea, from 1958 until the end of 1981. This was based on both policy and voluntary agreement. The District Court of the world’s largest sea port has deliberately decided to confine jurisdiction over cases relating to the carriage of goods to one chamber, although several chambers of the Court deal with civil matters. As President, Erades appeared to be prepared to carry this policy with good results, for the period of his uninterrupted presidency saw the growth of case law which has provided an element of legal security in international trade, and this cannot be valued too highly. It may safely be said that Erades has given the judgments of the Rotterdam District Court a reputation reaching far beyond national frontiers.
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Rererences
Art. 22 a (2), Regulations I, Royal Decree of 14 Sept. 1838, Stb. 36.
Art. 28 of the Act on the Organisation of the Judiciary.
For a report on this lecture (unpublished), see NJB 1969 pp. 776 – 777.
Act of 11 March 1981 for the approval of the intention to denounce the Brussels Convention of 25 Autust 1924 for the unification of certain rules relating to bills of lading, with the annexed Protocol of signature, Stb. 204, entered into force on 8 May 1981 ; State Act of 11 March 1981 for the approval of the Brussels Protocol of 23 February 1968, amending the International Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to bills of lading, signed at Brussels, 25 August, 1924, Stb. 205, entered into force on 8 May 1981. See further n. 32.
Kahn-Freund, The growth of internationalsm in English private international law; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Lionel Cohen Lectures, Sixth Series, January 1960, p. 40.
See W.E. Haak, De Hague Rules en het Alnati-arrest, Studiekring ‘Prof. Mr. J. Offer-haus’ 1969, with references to the literature.
Report of the Standing Committee for Justice, Chamber Documents, session 1953 – 1954, Bill 3520.
Art. 65(1) of the Constitution, as revised in 1972.
See e.g. Hoogkerk, District Court of Rotterdam, 23 April 1954, NJ 1954, 770; for further case law see RMTh. p. 104 n. 2.
Cf. Aagtekerk, Court of Appeal of The Hague, 17 October 1958, S & S 1958, 77.
Cf. Alnati, District Court of Rotterdam, 23 April 1963, NJ 1963, 458; see also the cases referred to in RMTh. 1971, pp. 104 – 105.
The Alnati Case is also reported in S & S 1964, 16.
Court of Appeal of The Hague, 11 December 1964, S & S 1965, 13.
Supreme Court, 13 May 1966, NJ 1967, 3, NILR 1968, 82 n. Deelen; see Lagarde, Travaux 1972, p. 160 and H. Gaudemet-Tallon, Rev. trim. dr. eur. 1981, p. 261.
See J.EJ.Th. Deelen, Rechtskeuze in het Nederlands Internationaal Contractenrecht, een jurisprudentie-onderzoek, diss. 1965.
See Vier Jaren Nederlandse Rechtspraak Internationaal Privaatrecht (1964 – 1968), p. 158.
Cf. Risa Paula, District Court of Rotterdam, 28 November 1967, S & S 1968,11.
Portalon, District Court of Rotterdam, 6 April 1965, S & S 1965, 53; for judgment of the Court of Appeal, see S & S 1967, 28.
Supreme Court, 8 November 1968, NJ 1969,10; see Erades, NILR 1969, p. 97.
Cf. MvT 3520, No. 3; for further comments, see also NJB 1970, pp. 298 – 299.
Contractenrecht-X-274, 275 ; see also P.J. Swart, Het Cognossementsverdrag en rechtstreekse werking, Annex to S & S 1971, No. 4 p. 4.
Cf. the cases referred to in RMTh 1971, p. 105.
See Snijders, NILR 1971, pp. 141 – 142;Haak, NJB 1970, pp. 350 – 351.
NILR 1961, p. 375 et seq; NILR 1964, p. 67 et seq.; NILR 1979, p. 97 et seq.; see also RMTh 1982, p. 56.
Loa cit. pp. 4344.
Supreme Court 19 February 1971, NJ 1971, 299; see Verheul, NILR 1974, p. 322.
Cf. Giancarlo Zeta, District Court of Rotterdam, 25 Oct. 1976, S & S 1977, 96.
Cf. Kimovsk, District Court of Rotterdam, 24 March 1970, S & S 1970, 87.
This theory is also found in judgments; cf. e.g. Evie W., District Court of Rotterdam, 27 Oct. 1970,S& S 1971,18.
See the report of his lecture in Curacao, NJB 1969, p. 777.
In February 1982, the countries which ratified or approved the Amended Bills of Lading Convention include: Belgium, Sri Lanka, Denmark, Fed. Rep. of Germany, Ecuador, France, United Kingdom, Lebanon, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Syria, Tonga, Sweden and Switzerland.
See the Act of 11 March 1981, amending the Commercial Code in connection with the ratification by the Netherlands of the Brussels Protocol of 23 February 1968, amending the International Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to bills of lading, signed
at Brussels 25 August, 1924, Stb. 206; the Act entered into force on 26 July 1982. The Hague-Visby Rules entered into force for the Netherlands on 26 July 1982 as well. The Brussels Bills of Lading Convention will cease in force for the Netherlands on 26 April 1983, a year after its denunciation. See W.E. Haak, Het Gewijzigd Cognossementsverdrag en zijn werkingsomvang: NJB 1982, p. 717 et seq.
See MvT 15948 (R1132), No. 3, p. 21.
Loc. cit. pp. 20 – 21.
See further n. 36.
A direction for application of the (old) Hague Rules law in cases of this kind could perhaps also be derived from Art. 6, last sentence of the Brussels Protocol; see also Struycken, Contractenrecht X, No. 55.
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Haak, W.E. (1983). Internationalism above Freedom of Contract. In: Essays on International & Comparative Law. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1468-6_6
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