Klaus Peter Berger

Professor, University of Cologne, Faculty of Law

1 año · Editado

The current blockade of the Suez Canal is a déjà vu for the world economy. It is also a reminder that the Canal is a force majeure "evergreen". Already in the 1960s a number of English and US courts and arbitral tribunals held that the blockade of the Canal caused by the Suez Canal conflict did not constitute frustration or force majeure, given that the goods could be shipped on an alternative route around the Cape of Good Hope (see, e.g. Tsakiroglou & Co Ltd v Noblee & Thörl GmbH, [1962] AC 93; Transatlantic Fin Corp v United States, 363 F (2nd) 312 (DC Cir 1966). The Suez Canal is also closely linked to the rebirth of the modern lex mercatoria doctrine of which the force majeure principle is a core element. It all began with an article by Berthold Goldman on the transnational legal nature of the Suez Canal Company in the "Le Monde" of 4 October 1956 ("La Compagnie de Suez- société internationale"). https://lnkd.in/daaak8A #forcemajeure #suezcanal #lexmercatoria #transnationallaw