Ownership of a surrogate ship and the use of the presumption of similarity of foreign law

In Korea Shipping Corporation v Lord Energy SA [2018] FCAFC 1717, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia was called on to determine whether the Korea Shipping Corporation’s interests in a vessel under Korean law amounted to beneficial ownership for the purposes of section 19 of the Admiralty Act 1988 (Cth). The Court found that it did not.

This note analyses the decision, which is a significant example of the limits in cross-border Admiralty disputes of applying the presumption that foreign law is the same as the lex fori. For practitioners, the decision is also a reminder of the need to ensure that any expert evidence as to foreign law properly complies with the relevant rules of evidence and addresses the key questions which the court will be required to resolve.