Analysis On The Legal Natures Of Delivery Of Goods Without The Original Bill Of Lading

In the process of marine transaction and transportation, bill of lading, as a transferable commercial document, has been widely accepted by international traders.This makes marine transaction operate more flexibly.However, in recent years, due to the complicated intermediate courses of transaction, traditional bill of lading has showed more and more limitations along with the rapid development of modern shipping technology and logistics system.This can be shown clearly in short-voyage transportation or transportation where the bill of lading is frequently transferred.In this condition, the circulating speed of traditional bill of lading is often so slow that it causes the goods prior to bill of lading to reach the destination port.Thus the consignee may not be able to deliver the goods in time without complete original bill of lading, and will face enormous commercial pressure if waiting for the arrival of original bill of lading in such a constantly changing modern society. In this case, the consignee and the carrier may reach an agreement to deliver the goods with a bill of lading in copy plus a letter of indemnity.The carrier, on the other hand, may agree to deliver the goods in consideration of the risks, such as overstock in the warehouse,on the vessel or at the port and the obliged auction or confiscation which might arise if delivering goods strictly based on the presentation of complete original bill of lading.All these have made delivery of goods without presentation of bill of lading more and more common.According to relevant surveys, this phenomena account for 15% in regular shipping, 50% in charter shipping and almost up to 100% in those transactions concerning mineral and gasoline products. Actually, delivering goods without presentation of bill of lading, which is just a convenient means to all parties, would not bring about serious problems if all parties abide by their agreement. However, it always turns out that the holder of original bill of lading might make a request to deliver the goods after the carrier's delivery without original bill of lading.This has influenced the normal order of marine transactions. In this case, the legal natures of delivering goods without presentation of bill of lading, whether and how the carrier should assume the liability, have become the focus of maritime theoretical and practical debates. For a long time, how to define the legal natures of delivery without the original bill of lading has been perplexing the maritime theory and practice circle.The proper definition will directly effect whether such kind of cases will be properly judged and different definition will lead to different applicable laws, judicial procedures and judgment, thus may cause the inequity of justice.In view of this, I select this as the title of my essay, aiming at explaining the legal natures of delivery without the original bill of lading through analyzing those different views on this issue at present and functions of the bill of lading.From the point of both civil principles and maritime practice, the author analyzes the "document of title"function of bill of lading and brings forward the point that the existence of bill of lading inquires itself to be a document of title.In the last part, the author gives some practical advice on dealing with delivery the goods without original bill of lading and hopes to have beneficial help to China's dealing with delivery without the original bill of lading.