The major centenary is, of course, the end of the First World War. Given its scale and the plurality of nations fighting the war, it was inevitable that the conflict would come to an end not in a single event, but through a series of collapses and capitulations during 1918. Nevertheless, the moment that most prominently encapsulates the conclusion of the war was the signing of the Armistice, in a railway carriage north of Paris, on 11 November of that year. World War I was the most devastating conflict that Europe had suffered in all its history, and we can scarcely conceive of what it must have been like to have fought in, or lived through, those times.

The other centenary I wish to refer to is one that is unlikely to be marked, let alone celebrated, anywhere in the world. The centenary is that of the decision of the United States Supreme Court in US v Spearin.1 Spearin turned on the issue of contractual responsibility for site conditions that were unknown to the contractor, because the particular conditions were not shown on the drawings it was given by the US Navy.