Research On Legal Liabilities Of The Carrier's Delivery Of Cargo Without Presentation Of Bills Of Lading

In the contemporary international trade, Bill of Lading has great significance. Voucher delivery is a basic principle in the practice of international shipping, however, as the shipping speed becomes more and more faster, if we still confined to the traditional process, the Bill of Lading which needs the bank settlement procedures will reached the consignee later than the ship, especially in deal with Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and southeast Asia. In order to avoid the loss caused by the delay of Bill of Lading, the consignee usually asks the carrier to delivery cargo without presentation of Bills of Lading by guarantee. The disputes are rising, so the delivery of cargo without Bill of Lading becomes the hotspots both in theory and practice. The Chinese maritime court has heard many cases about delivery of goods without Bill of Lading since its establishment. From the different judges we can see that the identification of delivery of cargo without Bill of Lading is varied in different periods. The reason lies in the complex of delivery of cargo without Bill of Lading. It is difficulty to identify the legal obligations of delivery of cargo without Bill of Lading. The different qualitative directly relates to the rights and obligations of the parties and the results of action. Based on the related regulations, international convention and scholar's opinions, the author analyzed this issue from the aspect of liability of the carrier .This thesis composed of five parts except introduction and epilogue.In Chapter One, the author tries to analyze the meaning of the carrier's delivery of cargo without presentation of B/L . The author gives a brief introduction to the causes of the carrier's delivery of cargo without presentation of B/L.In Chapter Two, the author introduced the three stages of China's legal practice respect to the carrier's delivery of cargo without presentation of B/L. Then the author discusses the legal character of delivery of cargo without original Bills of Lading and various theories on this issue. Then the author gives his own views, namely the legal character of this issue can't be unified, in most cases, it can be regarded as a breach of the contract, but in some other cases, it can also be considered as action in tort or both breach and tort.In Chapter Three, the author conducts a research on the legal liabilities of the carrier by discussing the way the carrier bear, the scope of liabilities, the limitation of liabilities as well as the distribution of liabilities between the carrier and their agent.In Chapter Four, the author mainly focuses on the issues of relief and plea on the legal liabilities of delivery of cargo without presentation of B/L. After discussing how the carrier makes use of right of recourse and letter of guarantee to protect himself, especially the local law of port of discharge and the custom of the port etc. the author mainly demonstrates whether the carrier can propose these causes of plea in the litigation.In Chapter Five, the author carries out systematic research on the problems of the carrier's delivery of cargo without presentation of B/L from different aspects. The author proposes his own views on legislation and judicial suggestions which may help to solve the problem of delivery of cargo without presentation of B/L. At the end of this part, the author discussed the possibility of using sea waybill and electronic bill to replace the traditional B/L. Focusing on the legal issues of the carrier's delivery of cargo without presentation of B/L, the author tries to, and at the same time, to devote himself to the development of China's maritime law.