September 13, 2025
DU LLBLaw of TortsSemester 1

In Re an Arbitration between Polemis and Furness withy & Co. ( 1921) 3 KB 560

Citation
Keywords
Facts
Issues
Contentions
Law Points
Judgment
Ratio Decidendi & Case Authority

Full Case Details

Facts

  • the defendants chartered a ship. The cargo to be carried by them included a quantity of Benzene and/or Petrol in tins.
  • Due to leakage in those tins, some of their contents collected in the hold of the ship. Owing to the negligence of the defendants’ servants, a plank fell into the hold, a spark was caused and consequently the ship was totally destroyed by fire.
  • The owners of the ship were held entitled to recover the loss—nearly Pounds 200,000, being the direct consequence of the wrongful act although such a loss could not have been reasonably foreseen.

Principles

REMOTENESS OF DAMAGES

The test of directness

  • It was negligent in discharging cargo to knock down the planks of the temporary staging, for they might easily cause some damage either to the workmen or cargo or the ship.
  • The fact that they did directly produce an unexpected result, a spark in an atmosphere of petrol vapor which cause a fire, does not relieve the person who was negligent from the damage which his negligent act directly caused.
  • The Wagon Mound case – It is governing authority not “Re Polemis”

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