BILLS OF LADING IN EXPORT TRADE This research p

Definitions, Types and Uses of Bills of Lading

The ordinary bill of lading is a transportation document and document of title, commonly used in ocean and land transport. (Airway bills of lading are outside the scope of this paper). A bill of lading can be defined as a "document giving title to the goods, signed by the captain or his deputy or by the shipping company or its agent, containing the declaration regarding receipt of the goods (cargo), the conditions on which transportation is made, and the engagement to deliver goods at the prescribed port of destination to the lawful holder of the bill of lading." It is "a receipt, a contract of carriage, and a document of title."

A bill of lading is the primary document which acknowledges "receipt of the cargo delivered by the shipper [exporter], charterer, or master of the vessel and [summarizes] the principal terms of the contract of ocean freight." Its contents typically include: the name and address of the shipper (exporter), the name and address of the party to whom the goods are to be delivered, the shipping route to be followed, port of destination, a general description of the cargo, its weight and measurement, who is to pay for freight costs, for example, "on board-freight prepaid," the number of any requi

. . .
s enables the subsequent buyer to claim the goods from the carrier at destination." The negotiability of bills of lading have been generally accepted in international trade since the English decision in House of Lords v. Mason (1794) 101 Eng. Rep. 380 which held that "a consignor's right to stop the goods before they reached the consignee was subordinate to the rights of the consignee's endorsee holding such a bill." One quirk of American law is that under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), a straight bill of lading, while not negotiable by endorsement, can be transferred and is used as a document of title. The contract of sale between the exporter and the buyer and not the bill of lading of which it is only partial evidence governs their rights and liabilities to each other. Those liabilities may be expressly or impliedly governed by Incoterms, "a set of international rules for the interpretation of the most commonly used trade terms," which provide generally under Rules A7 and A8 that the shipper must at his own expense "furnish to the buyer without delay . . . a clean negotiable bill of lading for agreed port of destination." If the contract does not incorporate Incoterms, the choice of law provision in the contract
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
UCP Art, Bills Lading, Arbitration Awards, Van Houtte, Sup Ct, Rule A8, Incoterms CISG, Act COGSA, Code UCC, UCP Arts, bill lading, bills lading, usca secs, letter credit, document title, letters credit, 46 usca secs, united nations, 46 usca, ucc sec, hague rules, negotiable bill lading, united nations convention, harter act 1893, international convention unification,
Approximate Word count = 2263
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)