On The Bill Of Lading Transport Cargo Delivery Of Legal Relations

This essay focuses on the delivery of cargo under bills of lading. The essay is composed of five chapters, namely: 1) an outline of the legal relationship involved in carriage of goods under bills of lading; 2) the parties to the legal relationship as to carriage of goods under bills of lading; 3) the contents in the legal relationship as to carriage of goods under bills of lading; 4) legal analysis as to delivery of cargo without the original bill of lading being presented; and 5) the suggestions regarding the revisions of the relevant PRC Maritime Law.Chapter I Outline of the Legal Relations Involved in Carriage of Goods under Bills of Lading. In this Chapter, the writer first analyzes the nature of the cargo delivery legal relationship by defining the concept of "the legal relationship as to the cargo delivery under bill of lading". This Chapter goes further on to introduce the relevant issues that form the legal relationship as to the cargo delivery under bill of lading, i.e. the parties to the legal relationship, the contents of and the subjects under the legal relationship. In the final part of this Chapter, the legal nature of such legal relationship is summarized.Chapter II Parties to the Legal Relationship as to Carriage of Goods under Bill of Lading. Due to the specialty of bill of lading legal relationship, there exist various opinions as to the criteria in distinguishing the parties to such legal relationship. Consequently, the writer introduces the difficulties in determining relevant parties in practice, including the carrier and actual carrier as in Section A, the shipper as in Section B and the bill of lading holder as in Section C, and also describes the different views and opinions as to how to distinguish the parties. The writer also expresses her own views in this respect based on some cases.Determination of the carrier in the case where the master issues the bill of lading and in the case where the charterer issues the bill of lading is also described in this Chapter. The writer then summarizes the conditions that a party shall be considered the carrier. The relations between and the respective responsibilities of the carrier and the actual carrier are also touched upon. At the end of this Chapter, the writer puts forward her suggestions as to the amendments to the relevant provisions under the Maritime Law.Chapter III The Contents of Legal Relationship as to Cargo Delivery under Bill of Lading. In this Chapter, the writer describes in general the carrier's obligations under a bill of lading and continues to analysis in detail each of these obligations. Following issues are addressed in this Chapter: 1) the implications of obligation not to delay the delivery of cargo, the originating source of this obligation, the liabilities for breach of this obligation and the carrier's defences against claims for breach of this obligation; and 2) the implications of the obligation to delivery cargo against the original bill of lading, the originating source of this obligation and the liabilities for breach of this obligation. The Maritime Law of China does not make named bill of lading an exemption from other kinds of bill of lading when it stipulates the carrier's obligation to deliver cargo against original bills of lading. Consequently, under the current Maritime Law, the carrier has the obligation to deliver cargo against only original bill of lading, no matter whether the bill of lading is a named one. As a matter of fact, such provision does not correspond to international practice. In addition, under such provision, a named bill of lading becomes practically meaningless. The writer expresses her own views in this respect and puts forward her suggestions to the amendments of the Maritime Law. One other issue addressed in this Chapter is the carrier's right to exercise lien under the bill of lading.Chapter IV Legal Analysis as to Delivery of Cargo Without Original Bill of Lading. Based on the illumination of the carrier's obligations under bill of lading as referred to in the previous chap...