Name
Professor Charles Debattista

Areas of Expertise

Charles specialises in international commercial law, with particular expertise in:

• international sale contracts.
• bills of lading.
• charterparties.
• letters of credit.
• international bank guarantees.
• international commercial disputes in general.

Charles has for many years been extensively retained for advisory work in these areas. Recent Opinions relate to the carrier’s liability for delay in transit; the fob seller’s liability towards the carrier as a shipper of goods; the impact of delivery clauses on bills of lading after the House of Lords’ decision in the Rafaela S; and the right of the master to clause bills of lading.  Charles has also provided expert evidence on English law to courts in Switzerland, the USA and Panama. He has also recently acted as co-counsel before an ICC tribunal deciding a dispute on the rejection of documents in the sale of an oil cargo.

Membership of Stone Chambers

Charles joined Stone Chambers in October 2004 as an Associate Member and Arbitrator. Qualified as an Advocate in Malta (1978), he is a Registered European Lawyer with the Bar of England and Wales and is available for:

• advisory work.
• appointment as an arbitrator.
• advocacy work before arbitral tribunals.
• court advocacy work in conjunction with other barristers in chambers.

Arbitration experience

A very active arbitrator in international commercial disputes, Charles is:

• a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
• a member of GAFTA (the Grain and Feed Trade Association).
• a member of FOSFA (the Federation of Oil, Seeds and Fats Associations).
• a Supporting Member of the LMAA (the London Maritime Arbitrators’ Association.

Charles attracts regular appointments as a sole arbitrator, as a chairman and as a member of tribunals, both in ad hoc appointments and under institutional rules.  His current case-load includes references under GAFTA, LMAA and International Chamber of Commerce Rules.

International Chamber of Commerce

In addition to arbitration work under ICC Rules, Charles is also closely involved in the regulatory work of the ICC. Thus, he chaired the international drafting committees on:

• Incoterms 2000.
• the ICC Force Majeure Clause 2003 and the ICC Hardship Clause 2003.
• the ICC 2004 E-Terms.
• currently a member of the Consultative Group for the new UCP for Documentary Credits.

Charles is Vice-Chair of the ICC's Commission on Commercial Law and Practice and a Member of its Banking Commission.

Academic position and publications

Charles is Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Southampton and was Director of the Institute of Maritime Law between 2000 and 2002. He has written extensively, most notably:

• Halsbury's Laws of England, vol 41, Sale of Goods and Supply of Services, 2005.
• Transfer of Property in International Sales (ICC-Paris, 1999), co-author.
• Sale of Goods Carried by Sea , Butterworths, 2nd ed 1998.
• Halsbury's Laws of England, vol. 43(2), Shipping and Navigation , 1997, with Hardy Ivamy.
• Incoterms in Practice (ICC-Paris, 1995), co-author and general editor.
• Chorley & Giles' Shipping Law (Pitmans 1987), co-author.

His many articles have appeared in the legal journals and in the shipping press. Recent examples include:

Drafting Enforceable Arbitration Clauses [2005] 21 Arbitration International 233.

Demise Clauses in from the cold - or are they? - a note on The Starsin, (Lloyd's List, 21 February 2001),
Laytime and demurrage clauses in contracts of sale - links and connections [2003] Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial law Quarterly 508-524.

Straight bills of lading: a continuing saga in the English Courts Questions resolved, untouched and mooted by The Rafaela S in the published proceedings of the International Congress of Maritime Arbitrators, London 2004.

Charles’s works have been cited in a number of Court decisions, most recently in the House of Lords in The Rafaela S [2005] 2 AC 423 and in The Starsin [2003] 1 All ER (Comm) 625; and in the Court of Appeal in Singapore in Uco Bank v Golden Shore Transportation [2005] SGCA 42.

Education