The Effectiveness Of The Arbitration Clause, The Jurisdiction Clause And The First Terms On The Bill Of Lading

The clauses of Choice of Law, Arbitration, Jurisdiction, as well as Paramount Clause and Local Clause contained in a bill of lading reflects the application of the Party Autonomy Principle, which links the foresaid clauses together. Since the academics still have disagreement on the validity of these clauses, the research on this subject based on the comparison of various opinions together with the suggestion raised by the author, may have a certain guiding effect.In the first part of this essay, the author makes a brief introduction of the Party Autonomy Principle, beginning with "voluntariness", one of the general principles of the civil law, and then summarizes the definition and contents of Party Autonomy Principle. This introduction is ended with an emphasis on the relativity of the Party Autonomy Principle.Based on the brief introduction, the author outlines the actual application of the Party Autonomy Principle in a bill of lading from the following angles: the first section is focused on the difference of the application in a bill of lading and a charter party; and the second section briefly introduces the Party Autonomy Principle reflected in express clauses of Choice of Law (such as Choice of Law, Arbitration and Jurisdiction), Paramount Clause and Local Clause. This part provides the readers with a perceptual knowledge of the mainlines of this essay.