COURT OF APPEAL DECIDES OBLIGATION TO PAY CHARTERPARTY HIRE IS NOT A CONDITION
上訴院判決期租租約中的租金支付義務不屬于租約的條件條款
SPAR SHIPPING A.S. V GRAND CHINA LOGISTICS HOLDING (GROUP) CO. LTD [2016] EWCA CIV 982
On 7 October 2016, the Court of Appeal handed down the eagerly awaited appeal decision from the Commercial Court decision in Spar Shipping A.S. v. Grand China Logistics Holding (Group) Co. Ltd. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal made by Grand China Logistics Holding (Group) Co. Ltd (“GCL”), providing definitive guidance on the question of whether the obligation to pay time charter hire is a condition. Answering the shipping market’s unease that arose out of conflicting first instance court decisions on the issue, the Court determined that a charterer’s failure to pay its hire instalments punctually and in advance under a time charterparty did not constitute a breach of condition. It also provided helpful guidance on the legal principles surrounding renunciation in the context of late and non-payment of hire under time charterparties.
2016年10月7日，英國上訴院就受到廣泛關注的SPAR SHIPPING A.S.訴 大新華物流控股(集團）有限公司案作出上訴判決。上訴院駁回了大新華物流控股(集團）有限公司 （“大新華”）提起的上訴，并就租約中的租金支付義務是否屬于條件條款給出了明確指導。解決了另一案子（The Astra）不同觀點給航運市場造成的不安。上訴院認為：期租租約中租家未按時預付租金，不是違反條件條款的違約行為。上訴院還就如何認定遲付和不付租金導致的renunciation（預期違約），給出了原則性指導意見。
The background facts 事實
The background of this case has been laid out in previous articles and so will not be repeated at length here. In brief however, this was a dispute regarding the non and/or late payment of hire under three long-term amended NYPE 1993 form charters dated 5 March 2010 (the “Charterparties”). The unpaid period for which the Owners claimed spanned April to September 2011. The Owners also sought to recover the resulting damages for loss of bargain for the considerable unexpired period of the Charterparties thereafter.
本案案情已有多篇文章報道過，在此不再贅述。本案是三份訂立于2010年3月5日的NYPE1993格式的租約（“租約”）下產生的有關不付和/或遲延支付租金引起的糾紛。船東索賠從2011年4月至9月欠付的租金。船東還索賠巨額剩余租期損失。
The Commercial Court decision 商事庭的判決
On 18 March 2015, the Commercial Court delivered its judgment. Notwithstanding careful consideration of the principles laid down by Mr Justice FLaux in The Astra [2013] EWHC 865 (Comm), Mr Justice Popplewell disagreed with that decision and ruled that punctual payment of hire in fact did not constitute a condition for the following reasons:-
2015年3月18日，商事庭就作出（一審）判決。法官Mr Justice Popplewell慎重考慮了Mr Justice FLaux 在The Astra [2013] EWHC 865 (Comm)案中的觀點，法官Mr Justice Popplewell不同意The Astra案的觀點，裁定“未按時支付租金”事實上不構成違反條件條款，理由如下：-
?A withdrawal clause gave owners no more than an option to cancel. On this basis, Clause 11 (the hire payment/anti-technicality clause) of the Charterparties could not be said to amount to a condition. Had there been express wording to the effect that the clause was more than an option to withdraw, the position may have been different. However, as it stood, the clause provided no more than a liberty to the Owners to withdraw the vessel from service.
撤船條款僅僅賦予船東取消合同的權利，并不能因此認定租約第11條（租金支付/反技術條款）是條件條款。如果有措辭明確表述不僅僅是撤船權利，則情況可能不同。然而，實際情況就是該條款僅僅賦予船東撤船的自由。
Even had there been no withdrawal clause in the Charterparties and, consequently, no express right to terminate, payment of hire would not have been treated as a condition of the Charterparties. It could not have been intended that any breach of the hire payment, no matter how serious or trivial, would have the same consequences and allow the Owners to terminate a long-term charter even for a trivial breach.
即使租約中沒有撤船條款，即沒有明確約定終止租約的權利，租金支付也不屬于條件條款。訂約時雙方的意圖不可能是：租金支付上的違約，無論嚴重與否（尤其是輕微違約），船東都可終止一個長期租約。
Payment of hire in commercial contracts was not generally considered to be “of the essence” unless the contract expressly stated so. On that basis, in a time charter context, there was no good reason to treat payment of hire as a condition (unless expressly stated), since in any event the owners could exercise their contractual right to terminate the charter and put an end to the future performance of the vessel (and, therefore, the future expense of operating the vessel for the benefit of the charterer). Where an owner no longer has to provide a charterer with service of Master and crew, then the owner’s interest in the prompt and punctual payment of hire disappears.
商業合同中的租金支付條款通常不會被認為是合同的“核心” ，除非合同明確如此約定。期租合同已有專門的撤船條款賦予船東終止合同的權利，船東可據此終止為租家提供服務（即終止為租家的利益支出費用）；如果船東不再向租家提供服務，船東也就不需租家準時付租。鑒于此，沒有理由將租金支付條款認定為條件條款（除非合同明確約定）。
Commercial certainty was not good reason to treat payment of hire as a condition. A withdrawal clause offering an option to cancel without conferring on the owners an unmerited right to damages was said to “adequately protect[s] this commercial interest”. The Court was clear that the desire for commercial certainty needed to be counterbalanced so as not to impose liability for trivial breaches in undeserving cases.
商業確定性并不是主張租金支付是條件條款的有力理由。撤船條款賦予了船東取消合同權利，但沒有同時賦予船東索賠剩余租期損失的權利，這已達到了對商業利益的充分保護。：追求商業確定性應同時兼顧避免過分救濟輕微違約。
The Court did, however, find in favour of the Owners on the ground that the Charterers had evinced an intention not to perform the Charterparties in a way that deprived the Owners of substantially their whole benefit under them. The Charterers were, therefore, in renunciatory breach.
，理由是租家表明了不再履行租約的意圖，從而剝奪了船東租約下的實質利益。租家的行為構成renunciation（預期違約）。?
GCL sought and obtained leave to appeal.
大新華提起上訴，并獲得許可。
?
The Court of Appeal decision 上訴院的判決
The appeal was heard by Sir Terence Etherton MR, Gross and Hamblen LJJ in June 2016, with judgment handed down on 7 October 2016. The Court of Appeal determined that the Charterers’ failure to pay instalments of hire punctually and in advance under the Charterparties was not a breach of condition. Indeed, the appeal judges considered that failure to make payment (without more) merely permitted the Owners to withdraw the vessel from service in accordance with Clause 11 of the Charterparties. The decision therefore confirms that the obligation to pay hire under a time charterparty constitutes no more than an intermediate or innominate term.
上訴于2016年6月開庭，由Sir Terence Etherton MR, Gross 和 Hamblen LJJ 審理，2016年10月7日上訴院做出判決，認定期租租約中租家未按時預付租金，不是違反條件條款的違約行為。上訴院認為，根據租約第11條，租家未支付租金（沒有其他違約行為），船東僅有權撤船。該判決確認了期租租約下的租金支付條款，最多只是中間條款。
The leading judgment of Lord Justice Gross provides considerable and helpful guidance as to the legal principles surrounding renunciation where there is late and/or non-payment of hire under time charterparties. In rejecting GCL’s argument that the test for renunciation was applied too strictly, and in conflict to the Court’s approach in other instances of non-payment (albeit in different types of contract), the Court of Appeal ruled that ultimately the obligation to pay hire promptly and in advance lay at the heart of the time charterparty. Where there was evidence of intent not to make such payment, that conduct went straight to the root of the contract, amounting to renunciatory breach and thereby entitling owners to terminate. It remains to be seen whether this conclusion will cause future courts and arbitrators to be more willing to find that a number of missed or partial payments of hire amounts to a renunciatory breach entitling an owner to terminate and claim damages for future losses.
Lord Justice Gross的判決，還就如何認定期租中遲付和不付租金導致的renunciation（預期違約），給出了重要的、有幫助的指導意見。大新華認為一審判定renunciation的標準過于嚴苛，并且有悖于其他類似案件（也是有關支付違約案件，但有關不同類型的合同）使用的方法。上訴院駁回了大新華的觀點，上訴院認為按時預付租金是期租租約的核心。如有證據證明租家已沒有意向支付租金，則這將影響到合同的根基，構成renunciation（預期違約），進而船東有權終止租約。本判決之后，，我們拭目以待。
Comment 評論
The outcome of this appeal now answers the market unease resulting from the decision in the Astra, whilst also offering more definitive legal guidance as to renunciation in the context of late and non-payment of hire in time charterparties.
本上訴判決安撫了Astra 案給航運市場造成的不安，同時就如何認定期租中遲付和不付租金導致的renunciation（預期違約），給出明確的法律指導。
It may be argued that the decision lacks the certainty of a rule that a single failure to pay hire in full and on time gives rise to a right to terminate and claim damages. However, as highlighted by Lord Justice Gross, the key question is “striking the right balance”. Where the likely breaches of an obligation to pay hire may have consequences that can be either trivial or serious, then the certainty achieved by classifying an obligation as a condition is that trivial breaches will have disproportionate consequences. This, in Lord Justice Gross’s view, was “an unsatisfactory balance”. Rather, sufficient certainty was provided by the withdrawal clause.
或許有觀點認為，一次未及時支付（或未足額支付）租金，船東是否有權終止合同并索賠損失，本判決未給出明確意見。正如Lord Justice Gross強調的，本案的核心問題是 “尋求平衡點”。未支付租金的后果可能是輕微的也可能是嚴重的，將租金支付歸類為條件條款，確定性是達到了，但同時造成了過分救濟輕微違約的后果，Lord Justice Gross認為那是“一種無法令人滿意的平衡”。何況，撤船條款已經達到充分的確定性。
It remains open to parties to include a term in their charterparties to the effect that the obligation to pay hire is a condition, as those drafting the NYPE 2015 form have sought to do.
為改變上訴院確定的原則，雙方可自行在租約中加入條款，將租金支付明確約定為條件條款，NYPE 2015的草擬者就想達到這個目的。
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