Admiralty Law and Imaginative Precision in Lord Jim

• Author: Hilton Staniland
• Position: University of Southampton, Southampton Law School, University of Southampton
• Pages: 299-316

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Hilton Staniland

1

University of Southampton

Southampton Law School, University of Southampton,

Highfield Campus, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK

H.Staniland@soton.ac.uk

Abstract: In this paper, it is argued that Lord Jim provides verisimili tude in relation

to the law and practice of contemporary inquiries and investigations into marine casualties;

and that the novel is a case study for acade mic and practising admiralty lawyers: illustrating

the use and abuse of the law and proced ures of Courts of Inquiry; exposing violations o f the

obligations owed b y master and officers to their passengers; questioning notions of fair

punishment; and suggesting drafting options for the enactment of statutes encouraging

cooperation between seafarers and casualty investigators. The interpretation of such

enactments should, it is argued, be adapted to the characteristics of the enactments, their

interpreters, and their i nterpretive community at the International Maritime Organization of

the United Nations.

1. Introduction

Lord Jim fuses imaginat ive and technical la nguage, reflectin g the use and abuse of actual court

procedures, laws and penalties. This legal reading of the great novel, a contribution to the vast body of

multidisciplinary scholarship around the work, argue s for its greater prominence in law and liter ature

2

and

merges the hermeneutics of law and literature, reconciling their often antithetical tendencies. Ca n the

densely adjectival and power ful imaginative language of deliberate ambivalence and so metimes

bewildering complexity

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in Lord Jim be fused with the concise technical language of precise legal

meaning that awaits identification in the novel? Conrad answers in The Mi rror of the Sea,

1

I am indebted to Dr Stephanie Jones for her comments on an earlier version of this paper and to Sir Anthony Evans,

now retired from the Court of Appeal, for a discussion about the relationship between law and literature. To Karolina

Kodrzycka (a native Polish speaker), who assiduously tracked down elusive documents, I extend my thanks. I would

also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their encouragement, criticisms and suggestions. All references to

Lord Jim, the Mirror of the Sea, A Personal Record and Typhoon are based on the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lord

Jim release date: January 9, 2006 [ EBook #5658]; the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of the Sea, release

date: October, 1997 [EBook #1058]; the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Personal Record, release d ate: January 9,

2006 [EBook #687]; and the AD. Donker publication of Heart of Darkness and Typhoon of 1987.

2

For an excellent account of the current status of law and literature, see Bard, Jennifer; Mayo, Thomas W.; and

Tovino, Stacy A., `Three Ways of Looking at a Health Law and Literature Class` (2009) Scholarly Works, Paper 75

at pp. 512-572.

3

Tadie, Alexis `Perceptions of Language in Lord Jim` (2006) Conradian vol. 31 issue 1 at p. 16. As to Jim’s

`uncertain positioning between language and silence` see Hannah, Daniel `Under a cloud: Silence, Identity, and

Interpretation in Lord Jim` (2008) Conradiana vol. 40 at p. 39. In regard to `the extent to which Conrad is

consciously dramatizing the very inadequacy of language` s ee Ray, Martin `Conrad, Schopenhauer, and le mot juste

(2008) Conradiana vol. 33 at p. 31. As to the much quoted `adjectival insistence` of Conrad’s writing, see Leavis, F.

R. (1948) reprinted 1976 The Great Tradition Pelican Books at pp. 204 –5. With regard to the `bewildering

complexity` of the language, see Miller, J. Hillis `Lord Jim: Repetition as Subversion of Organic Form` reprin ted in

(1996) Joseph Conrad Lord Jim London: W.W. Norton & Company at p. 446. As to the `duplicity of language` in

Lord Jim see, Said, Edward `The Presentation of Narrative in Lord Jim` reprinted in (1996) Joseph Conrad Lord Jim

London: W.W. Norton & Company at p. 454 and words conveying and concealing meaning, see Weinstein , Philip M.

`Nothing Can Touch Me: Lord Jim`` reprinted in (1996) Joseph Conrad Lord Jim London: W.W. Norton & Company

at p. 458-469.

H. Staniland

300

Your journalist whether he takes charge of a ship or a fleet, almost invariably ‘casts’ his

anchor. Now, an anchor is never cast, and to take a liberty with technical language is a

crime against the clearness, precision, and b eauty of perfected speech … technical

language is an instrument wrought into perfectio n … the growth of the cable – [is one

example of] a sailor’s phrase which ha s all the force, precision, and imagery of

technical la nguage … [and a second example] we’ll take that foresail off her and put

her head under her wing for the night … in imaginative precision … i s one of the most

expressive sentences I have ever heard on human lips (pp. 13-14).

This legal reading of the novel begins with the identification of its technical legal language of

imaginative precision. Conrad, it will be shown, had an intimate knowledge of the law and procedure of a

Court of Inquiry, arguably derived from his professional training, general awareness of legal p roceedings,

and especially his own appearances before such courts, o n one occasion narrowly but fairly escaping

cancellation of his certificate of co mpetency. Kieran Dolin’s observation that Jim is ‘not convicted of a

crime in the tech nical sense’ since he appears before a ‘marine co urt’

4

(which presumably means a Court

of Inquiry) is demonstrably correct. Kieran D olin’s persuasive study of Jim’s claim to ‘sympathetic

interest’ depends on the fact that ‘unlike his skipper he did not attempt to evade the justice of the

community.’

5

Jim’s treatment by the Court was however arguabl y irregular and unjust, further enhancing

our sympathy for him. And when Jim’s voluntarily appearance before the Court is contrasted with the

fugitive le gal status of the master and other officers, it will be contended that Lord Jim provides legal

drafters with a case study for the domestic enactment o f international law better calibrated to achieve

cooperation between seafarers and casualty investigators, the prevention of marine casualties, and justice

for seafarers. Finally, it will be arg ued that the interpretation of such enactments requires a special

approach, adapted to the unique characteristics of the enactments, o f the interpreters, and of the

interpretive community.

2. Court of Inquiry in Lord Jim

The word `inquiry,` shorn of dense adjectives, is used 23 times, with consistent clarity throughout the

novel. One reference is to the `Court of Inquiry,` which was an actual and very active court. This court

was established in 1876. It has since decided many thousands of cases,

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which must have had a profound

effect in saving life and property at sea. The Court is still important for safety of life at sea today. The

word `inquiry,` being e mployed in 20 other instances in the novel, refers consistently to a Court of

Inquiry.

The establishment of the Court of Inquiry can be traced to the resolutions of a Select Committee of

the House of Commons in 1836.

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The Court was and is unique: it has its own statutorily defined

jurisdiction, procedure and law. It proceeds in open court, employing a combination of inquisitorial and

adversarial proced ures when inquiring into marine casualtie s;

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although the standard of proof it applies,

either on a balance of probability or beyond a reasonable doubt, is u nclear.

At the time Lord Jim was penned, the Britis h Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 was in forc e. By virtue

of s. 478(1), the Act applied to British possessions. T he legislature of any British possession was

empowered to authorise an y court to `make enquiries as to … charges of incompetency or misconduct …

when the master, mate or engineer of a British ship who is char ged with incompetency or with

misconduct on board that British ship is found in the British po ssession.` Given the great extent of British

4

Kieran Dolin Fiction and the Law Legal Discourse in Victorian and Modernist Literature (1999 Cambridge,

Cambridge University Press) pp. 148-149.

5

Kieran Dolin Fiction and the Law Legal Discourse in Victorian and Modernist Literature (1999 Cambridge,

Cambridge University Press) pp. 148-149.

6

McMillan A.R.G. (1929) Shipping In quiries and Courts as Regulated by the Merchant Shipping Act London:

Stevens and Sons at p. v.

7

Sir Walter Murton (1884) Wreck inq uiries: The Law and Practice Relating to Formal Investigations in the United

Kingdom, British Possessions and Before Naval Courts into Shipping Casualties and the Incompetency and

Misconduct of Ships’ Officers With an Introduction London: Stevens and Sons at p 1.

8

Sir Walter Murton (1884) Wreck inq uiries: The Law and Practice Relating to Formal Investigations in the United

Kingdom, British Possessions and Before Naval Courts into Shipping Casualties and the Incompetency and

Misconduct of Ships’ Officers With an Introduction London: Stevens and Sons at p 5.