A Study on the Liability of the Builder in the Shipbuilding Contract and Products Liability.

선박건조계약상 건조자책임과 제조물책임

A contract for the shipbuilding is usually a complicated and involves statement of rights, obligations and responsibilities which each party agrees vis-a vis the other. The ultimate purpose of the contract is the sale and transfer of the finished ship by the builder to the buyer. Contracts for the construction and sale of ships are categorized as contracts for the sale of goods under English, United States, Germany and some countries law. On the other hand, The shipbuilding contract may be classified, not as a contract of sale but as a contract for work and materials under Korea, Japan and some countries law. Especially, most of countries are now well settled with regard to liability of a manufacturer in tort for physical injury and on the other for pure economic loss to remote owners of chattels. Where there is either a breach of contractual warranty or an implied warranty, there may be admiralty jurisdiction, depending once again on the situs of the event and its relationship to traditional maritime activity. Contract principles will be applied to the first type of warranty and tort principles will be applied to the second. First of all, this thesis is dealt with the contents of contract under English Law. Secondly, this thesis is analysed into the liability of shipbuilder in Products Liability under English, American and Korean Law comparisons. In conclusion, the author tries to give some suggestions as countermeasures of Products Liability to the shipbuilder in Korea.