Research On The Letter Of Indemnity In International Shipping Business

The Letter of Indemnity (L/I) is one of the common documents come forth and widely used in international shipping business. By now, as a kind of credit document, it is not merely an important practical problem in international trade and transportation by sea, but one that needs legislation badly. With the development of international trade and shipping business, it is proved that the Letter of Indemnity, on one hand, did have brought great convenience and enormous economic value to the international trade; on the other hand, it impacted the normal system of international trade, and especially had threatened the credit and security of the bill of lading (B/L), offering an opportunity for the fraud in trade or shipping field.Such fierce disputes arose from the controversy on the nature and validity of L/I. This thesis, so, will focus on probing into the legal issues pertinent to L/I including analyzing its legal definition and characters, defining its legal nature and scope of validity, etc, which not only have realistic value to smooth the shipping practice of our country, but can perfect and develop our maritime legislation related to the B/L or other shipping documents. Furthermore, research on L/I also can provide an effective way to prevent maritime fraud and realize the legal remedies.Based on introducing the origins and functions of L/I, the first part of this thesis will expound its definition, characters and inherent defects respectively, and present the author's objective appraisal on the usage of L/I. In the second chapter, this thesis will pay more attention to discuss and analyze the legal nature and validity of L/I from the angle of balancing interests, and bring forward an important standard to distinguish the goodwill or fraud when the L/I is issued, especially suggesting that we should look into the validity of L/I on the basis of case analysis. The third chapter mainly discuss the two typical L/I which conclude one issued for gaining Clean B/L and the other for delivery of cargo without B/L, to pursue a detailed and workable rule to determine the legal responsibilities related to above mentioned shipping documents. By reference to the legislation and cases in France,Japan, England, the US and the provisions or stipulations of Hamburger Rules, the final part is to make a discussion on the related principles of our country's maritime law and civil law, point out the defects or shortcomings lying in those maritime legislations and present a few realistic legal suggestions, hoping it will be helpful to perfect the theory and practice of the issues of L/I and the operation of international trade and shipping business.