ABSTRACT
In the opinion of the British delegates at Sydney, the judgment in The Alpha was correct. This kind of judgment by hindsight is strongly disapproved of in English law and it is submitted that the incorporation in the York-Antwerp Rules of this Rule Paramount may throw up an irreconcilable conflict of interpretation, particularly when related to the making of a general average sacrifice. Although not receiving much support at the meeting of the International Sub-Committee in December 1993, the proposal for a Rule Paramount applying the concept of reasonableness to all subsidiary Rules was approved at the Sydney Conference, subject only to a minor change of wording. The argument presented, which presumably found favour with the majority of the delegates at Sydney, was that since, by reason of the Rule of Interpretation, the requirement of reasonableness contained in Rule A could not be imported into Rule VII, a Rule Paramount was needed in order to achieve the desired result.
