La Fondation Albert Lilar
The Foundation Albert Lilar was founded on 4th February 1977 by the family of the late Albert Lilar, who was a former Belgian President of the Comité Maritime International and a very prominent maritime lawyer in Antwerp. The goal of the foundation is to encourage the study of maritime law both on a national and an international level and every three years the foundation awards a Prize to the author of a scientific work that was recently published and that is considered by the Board of Directors to have great merit and to serve the unification of maritime law or the development of comparative maritime law.
Image: Albert Lilar at his desk
The 2021 Albert Lilar Prize
The 2021 Albert Lilar Prize was awarded to Dr Jolien Kruit for her publication “General Average, Legal Basis and Applicable law”, subtitled “The Overrated Significance of the York-Antwerp Rules”, Paris Legal Publishers, Zutphen, 2017.
The author analysed the present legislation of 31 countries, the case law of 9 countries and 400 publications worldwide as well as historic sources.
The board decided that Dr Jolien Kruit’s monography constitutes a useful contribution to the uniformity of this part of maritime law whereas it identifies the failures in uniformity. In doing so, the author has examined the legislation of 31 countries with maritime significance.
The publication is the fruit of a thorough and rigorous analysis of the sources and reflects the author’s findings in a sober, precise and clear wording.
For these and many other reasons the board decided that this submission is an extraordinary scientific work in the meaning of article 2 of the articles of incorporation of the Foundation so that, after a profound comparison of all the submissions, the €2,500 prize is awarded to Dr Jolien Kruit.
The Foundation draws the attention to the great generosity of the winner who donated the funds to a scholarship to enable a student to participate in the Maritime Law program of the Erasmus University.
The earlier prize winners
1978: Nicolas Reuter, “La notion d’assistance en mer”
1981 : William Tetley, “Marine Cargo Claims”
1984: Edgar Gold, ” Maritime Transport: The Evolution of International Marine Policy and Shipping Law”
1990: Clive Van Aerde, ‘Zeeschepen onder bewarend beslag – theorie en praktijk’
1996: Lia Athanassiou, Legal aspects of competition in maritime transport
1999: Philippe Boisson, ” Safety at Sea, Policies and International Law”
2002: Frank Stevens, “Vervoer onder cognossement”
2014: Vincent Power, EU Shipping Law
Next Albert Lilar prize
The board has not yet set a date for the next submission.
Antwerp, December 2023
Benoît Goemans, director and secretary,
Benoit.Goemans@GDSadvocaten.be
on behalf of the Fondation Albert Lilar Enterprise n° (KBO, BCE) 0417 170 967