The Contractual Role of Bills of Lading Under English Law

Abstract

Britain's merchant navy dominated the international maritime trade in the 19th century. The strong ship owners' lobby imposed on the shippers the only choice to contract either under bills of lading drafted almost totally on the ship owners' terms or not to contract. The conflict between Britain and its rival the American merchant navy precipitated a movement for the use of model contracts of shipment (carriage) and towards standardisation of the liability of International liner carriers by legislative intervention. The bill of lading through its use in international trade gained the characteristic of being the document which incorporates the contractual terms. So, the orally agreed contract of carriage gave way to the contract of carriage in the form of a bill of lading.

Citation

Zekos, G.I. (1997), "The Contractual Role of Bills of Lading Under English Law", Managerial Law, Vol. 39 No. 5, pp. 5-49. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb022484