There can surely be few readers of this journal who are not familiar with, or at least aware of, SummerskiU’s definitive reference work on laytime, first published in 1966. The previous (fourth) edition, the last to be written by Michael Summerskill himself, would have been 24 years old this year, however, so an update was long overdue. The new edition is the work of Simon Baughen, better known for his student textbook on Shipping Law, now in its fifth edition (2012), published by Routledge.

It might be expected that the two books could hardly be more different. Shipping Law, being aimed at the student market, is noteworthy for its clear explanations. There is an entire chapter at the start of Shipping Law, entitled “Commercial background”, and the chapter on charterparties, for example, introduces the nature of charterparties, and explains, in language suitable for students with no knowledge of the subject, the differences between the various types. Summerskill, of course, is a very different type of book. It assumes a general knowledge of charterparties and carriage of goods by sea, and has little by way of introduction. There is, it is true, a chapter entitled “Introduction”, which begins with about a page and a half defining laytime but then goes quickly into details of charterers’ rights and duties. This is a book, in other words, for readers who already know what laytime is.

Summerskill’ a coverage is wider than the title suggests. It is, of course, comprehensive on laytime. Naturally it includes arrival and NOR, central concepts to the commencement of laytime, but there are also no fewer than three chapters devoted to demurrage and damages for detention (and the relationship between them). Incorporation of laytime and demurrage clauses into both bills of lading and sale contracts is included, and there is quite extensive discussion of liens and cesser. (Interestingly, the cesser clause at [12–13] is said to be “found in most charterparties”, whereas it is in none of the main standard forms.) Coverage could really be said, therefore, to include loading and discharge in general. To some extent this was also true of the previous edition, but Simon Baughen has expanded the demurrage coverage, and introduced for the first time a new chapter on damages for detention (which occupied only a couple of pages in the old edition). The new 20-page chapter begins with detention prior to the start of loading or discharging, and there is reference back to the reachable on arrival cases which were considered in depth in an earlier chapter, but there does not seem to have been a full appreciation of the damages for detention aspect of the reachable on arrival cases, for example on a rising market.

Summerskill is, of course, a work of reference, but the style of the book is to develop the law through the cases, which are set out extensively in the text, rather than being relegated (as in some works of reference) entirely to the footnotes. Consequently, the book is both clear and interesting to read. There is, interestingly, an almost total lack of reference to secondary sources, perhaps reflecting a view that the law is made through the cases, and not by writers.