ABSTRACT
To a modern generation of commercial lawyer the expression “due diligence” summons up visions of a slide rule being run over the books of a target company in the context of an impending merger or acquisition. It is only natural that the concept of due diligence should thereafter have been borrowed and adapted for use in other contracts concerning or related to maritime adventures. The obligation to make a ship seaworthy is “non-delegable” because reason and authority requires, as between goods owner and carrier, due diligence in the work itself. Most shipping lawyers think that they have a pretty good idea what is involved in the exercise of due diligence to make a ship seaworthy. And it is second nature that the duty so cast upon a carrier, whatever its precise ambit and extent, is personal to him, liability for non-performance or non-observance of which cannot be avoided by delegation to another.
