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Legal Terms - Bill of Lading
a record attesting to the consignor's goods being shipped for transportation by sea (see sea waybill). It is typically utilized when a general ship is transporting cargo for several consignors. In this instance, a bill is sent to each consignor on behalf of the shipowner or a charterer under a *charterparty, usually issued by the ship's master. The bill performs three roles: it operates as a document of title to the goods, it describes the terms of the contract of carriage, and it serves as a receipt for the goods. A shipowner may also give a bill of lading to a charterer who uses the vessel to transport his own cargo. The charterparty contains the conditions of the carriage contract in this instance, while the bill only functions as a receipt and a title document. If the bill is drawn to bearer, ownership of the goods may be transferred during transportation by presenting it to another party; if it is drawn to order, ownership may be transferred by endorsing it. But it's not a *accountable* instrument.
The Hague Rules outline the obligations, liabilities, rights, and immunities that attach to carriers under bills of lading. These were developed during the 1921 International Law Association meeting in The Hague, and they were approved at the 1922 International Conference on Maritime Law in Brussels. The Hague Rules of 1924 were officially named in the UK after they were implemented by the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act of 1924. The Brussels Protocol of 1968 made modifications to the Hague-Visby Rules, which were subsequently implemented by the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act of 1971. The Rules, which are outlined in a schedule to the Act, are applicable to transportation under a bill of lading between any state in which they have been approved as well as transportation from any port in Great Britain or Northern Ireland to any other port. That fact shall be openly stated in any law passed in the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland that is subject to the Rules (this requirement is usually implemented by a clause known as the paramount clause). In 1979, a final revision to the Rules—known as Hague-Visby/SDR—was made. A new convention known as the Hamburg Rules, which has been approved by 35 nations, entirely revised the Rules in 1978 and significantly changed a maritime carrier's favored position in relation to other carriers. They are thought to oversee fewer than 5% of global maritime traffic, but they have not yet been widely accepted. The Rotterdam Rules, a third and significantly lengthier set of regulations, were approved by the UN in 2008. Nevertheless, just four states had adopted these regulations as of 2021.
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