Commercial Shipping

An Overview

Of the Bill of Lading

Members of Group 7

Samantha Masters

Cresent Ferguson

Narda EnglandKacy-Ann Troupe

Kevin Oram Nyelia DoyleyAdia MartinShavon Drysdale

What is the Bill of Lading?

The Bill of Lading of is a document that establishes the terms of contract between a shipper and a transportation company. (Glossary of Port and Shipping Terms, 2014)

The Bill of lading is one of the most important documents in the shipping industry.

Some important functions of the bill of lading are:

It is used as a proof of receipt of shipment by the carrier

It is a document of title It is used as evidence for a contract

of carriage

Sample of a Bill of lading

History of the Bill of lading

The Bill of Lading is preceded by:

The Medieval Law MerchantThe Lex Mercatoria (New Law

Merchant).

The Bill of lading was invented in the 13th century

Its functions were gradually created by the practical needs of substantial and tangible evidence of contract for all primary parties (i.e. shipper, carrier and consignee) alongside technical development over time.

It is widely accepted that Italy is the birthplace of the bill of lading, because of the growing economies of the Italian city states due to the sea commerce between Italy and the Roman Empire in Constantinople.

Its first copy was written in 1564.

The initial functions of the bill of lading during its inception were:

A receipt for goods received by master or ship owners,

contract of carriage between shipper and carrier,

negotiable document of title. 

The Bill of lading became necessary when merchants stopped travelling on board ships with their goods.

Evolution of the Bill of Lading

Evidence of the evolution of the bill of lading can be seen in the revision of The Hague rules to the Hague-Visby rules (which both influenced the terms of contract included on the bills of lading.)

Additional advancement can be seen in the numerous conventions established and their constant revisions as well as the creation of electronic bills of lading, even though there has been much resistance towards it.

Bill of lading written in 1765

Formalization of the Bill of lading

Ocean trade in the United States and Britain depended heavily on British Ship Owners.

A point of crisis was reached between these two domains concerning the struggle between ship owning and cargo interest.

As a result, legislations were amended to remove the chaos and abuse produced by unlimited freedom of contract.

After considerable discussion amongst major actors of the maritime nation, a set of rules were drafted by the maritime law committee of the international law association at a meeting held in Hague 1921.

These rules came to be known as the Hague rules which constituted the various Bills of lading.

The rules were amended in London at a CMI (Comite Maritime International) conference in 1922.

Further amendment was made at an international convention in Brussels, 1922.

Eventually an International Convention was ultimately signed on August 25, 1924, at which time the Bill of Lading became a formal document of the Mercantile System.

ReferenceOrganization as AuthorSeine Maritime. (2003). Glossary of Port and Shipping Terms.

Retrieved from: http://www.seinemaritime.net/United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

(2013). Review of Maritime Transport. Retrieved from : http://unctad.org/en/publicationslibrary/rmt2013_en.pdf

 

Unknown AuthorHow to Import Export. (2014). Importance of Bill of lading in

international trade. Retrieved from: http://howtoexportimport.com/3-Reasons-under-Importance-of-bill-of-lading-in-in-45.aspx

 

Article in Journal Paginated by VolumeSweet, A.S. (2006). The new Lex Mercatoria and

transnational governance. Journal of European Public Policy, 13, 627 –646. Retrieved from: file:///C:/Users/SAM/Documents/COLLEGE%20NOTES/Commercial%20Shipping/LexMercatoriaTransnationalgovernance.pdf