Hovercraft (Civil Liability) Order 1971

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
CitationSI 1971/720
Year1971

1971 No. 720

HOVERCRAFT

The Hovercraft (Civil Liability) Order 1971

30thApril 1971

9thJune 1971

ARRANGEMENT OF ORDER

Article

1. Citation and Operation

2. Interpretation

3. Liability for carriage of passengers and baggage

4. Liability for goods on board hovercraft

5. Vehicles not to be treated as baggage

6. Overall Limitation of Liability

7. Application of the Maritime Conventions Act 1911

8. Application of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947

9. Previous Occurrences

10. Saving for Northern Ireland

11. Schedule for convenience of reference

SCHEDULES

No. of Schedule

1. Liability for Carriage of Passengers and Baggage

Part I—A. Modification of The Carriage by Air Act 1961

B. Modifications of The Carriage by Air Act 1961, Schedules

Part II—A. Modifications of The Carriage by Air (Supplementary Provisions) Act 1962

B. Modifications of The Carriage by Air (Supplementary Provisions) Act 1962, Schedule

2. Liability for Goods on board Hovercraft

A. Application of The Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1924

B. Application of The Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1924, Schedule

3. Overall limitation of liability

A. Modifications of Part VIII of The Merchant Shipping Act 1894 as amended by the Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners and Others) Act 1958

No. of Schedule

B. Modifications of The Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners and Others) Act 1958

4. The modified enactments set out for convenience of reference:

(1) The statutes applied and modified by Schedule 1

(2) The statutes applied and modified by Schedule 2

(3) The statutes applied and modified in Schedule 3

At the Court at Windsor Castle the 30th day of April 1971

Present, The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred upon Her by section 1(1)(h) and 1(1)(i) of the Hovercraft Act 1968(a), and of all other powers enabling Her in that behalf, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—

Citation and Operation

1. This Order may be cited as the Hovercraft (Civil Liability) Order 1971 and shall come into operation forty days after the date of making.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires, "navigable water" means any water which is in fact navigable by ships or vessels, whether or not the tide ebbs and flows there, and whether or not there is a public right of navigation in that water.

(2) The Interpretation Act 1889(b) shall apply to the interpretation of this Order as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

Liability for carriage of passengers and baggage

3. The Carriage by Air Act 1961(c), as amended by the Limitation Act 1963(d), or, in Northern Ireland, the Limitation Act (Northern Ireland) 1964(e) and the Carriage by Air (Supplementary Provisions) Act 1962(f) shall apply subject to the modifications set out in Schedule 1 to this Order in relation to the carriage of passengers and their baggage by hovercraft as they apply in relation to the carriage of passengers and their baggage by air.

Liability for goods on board hovercraft

4. Subject to Article 6, the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1924(g) shall apply, subject to the modifications set out in Schedule 2 to this Order, in relation to the carriage of goods by hovercraft (other than passengers' baggage) as it applies in relation to goods on board or carried by ship.

Vehicles not to be treated as baggage

5. The enactments applied by this Order shall apply with the further modifications that—

(a) a vehicle and its contents shall not be treated as baggage; and

(a) 1968 c. 59.

(b) 1889 c. 63.

(c) 1961 c. 27.

(d) 1963 c. 47.

(e) 1964 c. 1 (N.I.).

(f) 1962 c. 43.

(g) 1924 c. 22.

(b) subject to the foregoing, any property of which the passenger takes charge himself shall be treated as baggage.

Overall Limitation of Liability

6. Part VIII of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894(a) and the Merchant Shipping (Liability of Shipowners and Others) Act 1958(b) shall apply, subject to the modifications set out in Schedule 3 to this Order, in relation to—

(a) personal injury (including loss of life);

(b) loss of or damage to property,

caused to a person or to property (except passengers or baggage carried by the hovercraft) by an act or omission of any person (whether on board the hovercraft or not) in the navigation or management of a hovercraft, in the loading, carriage or discharge of its cargo or in the embarkation, carriage or disembarkation of its passengers, or through any other act or omission of any person on board the hovercraft, as they apply in relation to injury, loss, damage and infringement of rights caused in the navigation or management of a ship:

Provided that the aforesaid provisions shall not apply unless at the time of the incident causing the damage the hovercraft was on or over navigable water, or on or over the foreshore, or place where the tide normally ebbs and flows, or was proceeding between navigable water and a hoverport, or was on or over a hoverport either preparing for or after such transit.

Application of the Maritime Conventions Act 1911

7. Sections 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9(4) of the Maritime Conventions Act 1911(c) shall apply as if references therein to vessels included references to hovercraft.

Application of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947

8.—(1) Section 5(1) of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 (d) shall apply in relation to hovercraft in the circumstances described in Article 6 of this Order subject to the following modifications:—

(i) for "ships" wherever it appears, there shall be substituted "hovercraft";

(ii) For "1940" there shall be substituted "1970";

(iii) After the word "Acts" where it secondly appears there shall be inserted the words "as applied to hovercraft".

(2) Sections 6 and 30 of the said Act of 1947 shall apply in the case of hovercraft as they apply in the case of vessels.

(3) The said sections 5(1), 6 and 30 as extended to Northern Ireland by virtue of the Northern Ireland (Crown Proceedings) Order 1949(e) shall also apply in relation to hovercraft in the circumstances described, and subject to the same modifications as in paragraphs (1) and (2) above.

Previous Occurrences

9. This Order shall not apply so as to affect rights or liabilities arising out of an occurrence before it comes into operation.

(a) 1894 c. 60.

(b) 1958 c. 62.

(c) 1911 c. 57.

(d) 1947 c. 44.

(e) S.I. 1949/1836 (1949 I, p. 1261).

Saving for Northern Ireland

10. Nothing in this Order restricts the power of the Parliament of Northern Ireland to make laws, and laws made by that Parliament in the exercise of that power shall have effect notwithstanding anything in this Order.

Schedule for convenience of reference

11. For convenience of reference the enactments applied by Articles 3, 4 and 6 of this Order are set out in Schedule 4 to this Order with the modifications made in them by this Order.

W. G. Agnew.

SCHEDULE 1

Article 3

LIABILITY FOR CARRIAGE OF PASSENGERS AND BAGGAGE

PART I

MODIFICATIONS OF THE CARRIAGE BY AIR ACT 1961

The following are the modifications of the Carriage by Air Act 1961 referred to in Article 3 of this Order.

A. The Act, other than the Schedules

(1) The following shall be substituted for section 1(1):

"The First Schedule to this Act shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have effect in respect of the carriage of passengers and their baggage by hovercraft."

(2) Section 1, sub-sections (2) (3) and (4) shall not apply.

(3) Section 2 shall not apply.

(4) Section 4(4) shall not apply.

(5) In section 5(1) for "the Convention" there shall be substituted "the First Schedule to this Act", and for "aircraft" there shall be substituted "hovercraft".

(6) Sections 7 to 10 shall not apply.

(7) Section 14(1) shall not apply.

(8) In section 14(2) the words in brackets shall be omitted.

(9) Section 14(3) shall not apply.

B. The Schedules to the Act

(1) For "this Convention", wherever it appears, there shall be substituted "this Schedule".

(2) For "air" and "aircraft", wherever they appear, there shall be substituted "hovercraft".

(3) For "aerodrome", wherever it appears, there shall be substituted "hoverport".

(4) For "passengers, baggage or cargo", wherever it appears, there shall be substituted "passengers or baggage"; and from the expression "baggage or cargo", wherever it appears, "or cargo" shall be omitted.

(5) In Article 1(1), "international" shall be omitted.

(6) Article 1(2) and (3) shall not apply.

(7) In Article 2(1) for "by the State or by legally constituted public bodies" there shall be substituted "by the Crown".

(8) Article 2(2) shall not apply.

(9) Chapter II shall not apply.

(10) In Article 18(1) "or any cargo" shall be omitted.

(11) Article 18(2) shall not apply.

(12) In Article 18(3), after "carriage" where it secondly appears, for "by land, by sea or by river", there shall be substituted "not by hovercraft".

(13) In Article 20 for "necessary" there shall be substituted "reasonable".

(14) In Article 22(1), for "two hundred and fifty thousand francs", wherever they appear, there shall be substituted "£12,000" and the second sentence shall be omitted.

(15) In Article 22(2)(a) "and of cargo" shall be omitted and for "two hundred and fifty francs" there shall be substituted "£7".

(16) In Article 22(2)(b) "or the same air waybill" shall be omitted.

(17) In Article 22(3) for "five thousand francs" there shall be substituted "£138".

(18) Article 22(4) and (5) shall not apply.

(19) Article 23(2) shall not apply.

(20) In Article 24(1) "17," shall be inserted before "18".

(21) Article 24(2) shall not apply.

(22) In Article 26(2) "and fourteen days from the date of receipt in the case of cargo" shall be omitted.

(23) In Article 26(3) from "upon" to "writing" shall be omitted.

(24) Article 27 shall not apply.

(25) Article 28 shall not apply.

(26) Article 29(2) shall not apply.

(27) In Article 30(1) from "and", where it first occurs, to "Article 1" shall be omitted.

(28) In Article 30(3) "or consignor", "or consignee" and...

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