The third edition of this book is dedicated to Richard Shaw. Richard played an important role in the Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Southampton for many years right up until his death in 2013. He had a great love of things maritime and of teaching. He was extremely effective. If Richard promised to do something it would be done. He contributed to the success of the first two editions of this book, the book entitled Maritime Law Evolving brought out to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Institute of Maritime Law, and to our many courses each year. His wise counsel at Governing Board meetings of the Institute of Maritime law will be gravely missed. His sunny personality at events such as our Donald O’May lecture each autumn and dinner on the Isle of Wight every September at the end of our three- week Short course will be remembered with pleasure. I am grateful to all the authors who have contributed to this third edition. We have been joined by ?zlem Gürses who has contributed new sections to the chapter on marine insurance. Mikis Tsimplis has updated the sections originally written by Richard Shaw as well as his own major contributions. We are very fortunate to have the support of the Institute of Maritime Law, so ably directed by Filippo Lorenzon for the last four years and now by Mikis Tsimplis. Thanks are due to our two research assistants, Jack Steer and Mateusz Bek, who have helped all the authors with research and have worked tirelessly to ensure the consistency of the book as a whole. Further thanks go to Sara Le Bas, the Institute of Maritime Law’s librarian, who has contributed the bibliography and to Clare Brady for her assistance. We are also grateful to our publishers, Taylor & Francis, and particularly to Faye Mousley for her efficiency and encouragement, Alexia Sutton and Jessica Moody. Shipping law continues to thrive at the University of Southampton with increasing numbers of University students keen to study maritime subjects both at LLB and LLM level and practitioners enthusiastic to attend courses. May this book inspire any reader to delve further into the joys of maritime law and enjoy the fascinating practical and academic issues that it involves