Study On The Application Scope Of Transport Law Of Carriage Of Goods By Sea

The draft of Transport Law, which is now under consideration and discussion by UNCITRAL, is one of the issues that attract most attention. Nowadays, different conventions on the carriage of goods by sea have different stipulations about the application scope of the convention. With the development of the shipping practice, some of the stipulations above are out of date. Some types of contract, which has been in the mandatory scope of application of transport law are becoming not suitable to be adjusted. And the application of some new coming types of contract is ambiguous. On the thirteenth conference of UNCITRAL convoked in New York in 2004, China delegation submits an overture on the issue of chapter 19 and freedom of contract to the conference. China delegation suggests that the scope of application of Transport Law should divide into two different situations: one belongs to the mandatory scope of application which is established on the basis of "transport document";the other belongs to the supplementary scope of transport law which is established on the basis of "agreement concluded by free negotiation". Compared with passed conventions and opinions, this overture is the brand-new suggestion. This paper discusses the scope of application of the law of carriage of goods by sea, in use of the overture and the principle of the freedom and limitation of contract.This paper has four chapters: the first chapter is about the general theoretical research;the second chapter is about the mandatory scope of application of transport law;the third chapter is about supplementary scope and the exclusive scope of transport law. The fourth chapter is the end of this paper, which discusses the influence on the new development of the scope of application of transport law and our nation's resolution.