Delivery Of Goods Without Legal Problems

In recent years, the legal nature of discharging goods without the Bill of Lading has been the focus between the parties, a hot topic among scholars on Maritime Law and a difficulty in trial. Discharging goods without B/L usually constitutes different legal relations because of the diversity of doers, its counterparts and the difference among the subjective and objective essential elements. Nevertheless, defining the nature of discharging goods without B/L can directly determine the rights and obligations of the concerning parties and the consequence of the action. Therefore, there's some need to do more research on this issue.This thesis is composed of five parts. The author addresses the generation of discharging goods without B/L and its manifestation in the first part.In the second part, the author defines the nature of its legal liability. As to the issue on the legal liability of discharging goods without B/L, there exist great disputes among scholars and in practice. At present, there are four doctrines on the legal liability of discharging goods without B/L in theory: the doctrine on breach of contract, the doctrine on tort, the doctrine on the concurrence of breach and tort, and the doctrine on exceptional tort. In practice, the court had made controversial decisions according to different doctrines. Beginning with the different functions of B/L in different places, the author points out the deficiency of the above four doctrines and proposes that because of the diversity of the subjects on discharging goods without B/L and the complexity of its counterpart the nature of discharging goods without B/L cannot be defined in uniform and we can only consider it as breach, tort, or concurrence of the two according to the existing conditions.In the third part, the author addresses the conditions constituting the liability of compensation for damage and its range of liability during the process of discharging goods without B/L. For the conditions constituting the lability, the author begins with the three essential elements constituting the lability of compensation, points out the meaning of defining the definition ofcompensation and a country's essential system on compensation for damage to the issue on whether the legal liability of discharging goods without B/L could be determined. For the liability range the author addresses the impact induced by the elements of compensation, the calculating approach of the compensation and its causality in determine the compensation range.In the fourth part, the author discusses the possible pleading reasons quoting by the carriers during the process of discharging goods without B/L and analyses whether these reasons could help the carrier getting rid of the legal liability. These pleading reasons includes estoppel, the law or customs in discharging port, named B/L, delayed taking, time bar, period of responsibility.In the fifth part, the author gives out her own idea on how to solve the issue on discharging goods without B/L from the perspective of law. The author believes that as far as the present conditions concerned, there exist two basic approaches solving the issue on discharging goods without B/L: one is using the sea waybill, the other is using the electronic bill of lading.