THE CONTRACTUAL ROLE OF BILLS OF LADING UNDER INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND REPORTS

Bills of lading had been in use a long time before the first attempts for the standardisation of their terms occurred. Their utility as legal documents was recognised after they have been circulated and used in international trade for some time. More clauses purporting to absolve the carrier from liability were introduced in the content of the bill of lading . A formula for the establishment of minimum liability of the carrier was adopted by a series of conferences after the first world war, in order to stop the practice of contracting in ways which would unduly favour the carrier. The whole effort has resulted in the emergence of the international convention for the unification of certain rules relating to bills of lading 1924. In modern days this document started to be used as a register in the book of loading and after years of practice has established as a new document. A bill of lading is a fundamental and vital document of international trade and commerce, indispensable to the conduct and financing of business involving the sale and transportation of goods between parties located at a distance from one another. A bill of lading has commonly been said to have three characteristics : 1} a contract for the carriage of the goods 2} an acknowledgement of their receipt and 3} documentary evidence of title . However, there is an uncertainty and dispute about its contractual nature. The significance of the establishment of the contractual role of bills of lading based on the necessity that any contractual party should know the final terms of the contract upon which the terms of the International Conventions will be implied to. Contractual terms must not be different to these stated by the International Conventions. Is the bill of lading the contract of carriage upon which the terms of the International Conventions are implied to? In this first article it is proposed to investigate the contractual role of bills of lading as it has been perceived in the different international conventions. The analysis will be based mainly on arguments which have arisen from the content of the conventions themselves, than by investigating the national Acts which were introduced in order to implement the international conventions. Reference to other sources, such as court decisions or views of various scholars, will be made in case that there is a straight relation with the construe of the conventions themselves. The main scope is to find out how the international practice is reflected in the writing of the conventions. This article will be the first of a series of articles which will follow and where their contractual role under the Creek, United States and English law will be investigated.