The Nature of English Shipbuilding Contracts: A Legal Evolution (Pre-1893 to 2026)
Introduction English shipbuilding contracts have transitioned from a common law agreement for "work and materials" to a statutory contract for the "sale of future goods," eventually arriving at its current 2026 status as a sophisticated hybrid agreement. This evolution is defined by three distinct eras: the pre-1893 Common Law era, the 1893 Codification Era, and the Modern Era following the 1979 Sale of Goods Act (SOGA). I. The Pre-1893 Era: Common Law and Physical Incorporation Before 1893, shipbuilding was governed by mercantile custom and a series of common law decisions rather than a single statute. The primary legal challenge during this period was determining when property in materials passed from the builder to the buyer. The Corpus Rule: In Seath & Co v Moore [1886], it was established that property in materials does not pass to the buyer until those materials are "affixed to or in a reasonable sense made part of the corpus" of the ship. Physic...