Lifeboats, Luggage and Law – what RMS Titanic can teach students about legal research

Windows in the Titanic Experience, Belfast; porthole on the last White Star Line ship SS Nomadic, Belfast (Author, 2024)

By Dr Sam Woods-Peel

Law is taught to students through modules that usually have a specific subject focus, e.g. contract or land law. Sadly, not all of these subjects will immediately enthuse students, so how can we encourage students to practice using their legal skills? One way is to encourage students to think about local issues, and if those issues lead to legal matters then encourage them to research them. In this blog I explore an example of a local issue that led me to some interesting research and practice of research skills.

In February 2024 I was the keynote speaker at an Open University law student conference in Belfast. I wanted my talk to show how students can practice their legal skills outside of their degree studies. In a city with its own Titanic Quarter and Titanic Experience, an apt question was – after RMS Titanicsank, did anyone sue its owners, White Star Line? Students joined me on this research journey – this time avoiding icebergs!

The answer to this question is not in any law textbook. A quick search of the internet brings in some results, but these were mostly American. If I wanted to know if there were any British cases I would have to find them myself, using my legal research skills.

Fortunately for 21st Century students, Westlaw and LexisLibrary make the task of searching for obscure case law a lot easier! The answer to my question was White Star sued after the Titanic sank was easily answered. Yes, in Ryan v. OSNC [1914] 3 KB 731, with OSNC being the American parent company of White Star Line. Once I had found that case my next question was, of course, what were they sued for, and this is where things got interesting. The cause of action was not based around the lack of lifeboats, or negligence as such (this was pre-Donoghue v Stephenson), but was an action under the passage contract.

The case involved four conjoined actions of the relatives of third-class passengers who died in the sinking. The court held that the White Star Line had been negligent as to the speed of Titanic through the ice field and were not allowed to rely on a contractual clause that tried to absolve them from liability for their own negligence. While negligence is mentioned in the case it is on the basis that the negligence breached the contract with the deceased, not as a cause of action in itself.

So far I had used my research skills to find and interpret British case law, but more questions occurred to me. What about American case law? What was the law on lifeboats before the sinking and did it change after? The question about American cases was easily answered through American case reports, newspaper reports, and indeed the internet (where the original court documents can be viewed!). White Star were sued for $16 million for loss of life, luggage and cargo damage, but due to maritime law limitation of liability as applied in America they managed to only pay out $665,000 to settle all claims (Oceanic Steam Navigation Company Ltd v. William J Mellor and Harry Anderson (1914) 58 L. ed., 716).

As for the question of lifeboat law, that was a little trickier to answer. The original law applying at the time of the sinking was the Life Saving Appliances Rules 1894, made under the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, s. 427. It was very clear but did not take into account the number of passengers on board a ship when setting the number of lifeboats required. Under those regulations, Titanic was entirely legal. Finding out what happened after the sinking was far more difficult. The law relating to the number of lifeboats required has been amended several times since, and the usual sources for UK legislation only mentioned the up to date rules.

Then I remembered that all legislation had to go through Parliament, and therefore there should be some mention of what happened to the lifeboat rules in 1912/1913 in Hansard. A quick Google search will not find the information, but careful searching of Hansard told me that a new Merchant Shipping (Life-saving Appliances) Rules requiring lifeboats for all on board came into force in March 1913. Then there was actually a shortage of the required lifeboats to retrofit ships!

In the course of answering my questions, I had practised using Westlaw and reading cases, I had covered UK and American law, maritime, negligence, administrative and contract law. I had used the internet critically and not given up when it didn’t give me the answers I wanted. I used legislation.gov.uk(https://www.legislation.gov.uk/) and then Hansard online (https://hansard.parliament.uk/) to locate details of repealed legislation. All of this I did willingly because I wanted to know the answers to my questions.

But how does this relate to teaching students legal research skills? If students are engaged with a legal issue they will keep researching until they find the answer. If they think about legal issues outside their formal studies, they will cover more areas of law and begin to see how law fits together in the real world. Encourage your students to think about their local issues, and what law might be relevant to it. If there is a big rubbish incinerator being built near them, for example, consideration of that will lead them to planning law, environmental law and how politics affects what laws are passed and what projects get the go ahead.

This approach does more than stimulate research skills. It allows students to follow their interests, relate their legal studies to the world around them, and venture willingly into areas of law they may have thought dull. Most importantly, it encourages them to look out of the window and see law everywhere.