Legal Analysis On The Character Of The Documentary Credits

We are facing a fact that Documentary Credits (i.e.DC) are used frequently as a useful payment way in foreign trade. One Credit always involves different countries, banks and non-bank parties. It is much more complicated than the ordinary domestic business relationship, especially when it concerns troubles. So the first problem we meet is how to tell the legal character of a DC before choosing some statute.There is no particular statute for DC at present in P.R. China. And there are no clear legislations we can use to settle the problem of the legal character of DC. Our judges often use international practices to decide a case if only there are some.It does not mean reasonable only by its existence. So the author makes a legal analysis on the character of the DC through a legal view, by studying the effects of DC in different stages.There are three parts in this thesis to amplify this subject. The first part is to introduce in brief the study way of analyzing things by stage. The second part is to analyze the DC in details in different stages. And the last part is the conclusion. DC is not an offer, not a contract, not a guarantee or negotiable securities. The author disagrees to say DC is a special contract although she agrees the doctrine that suggests DC is DC.After analyzing, we can find it unfit to classify DC into any present single legal conception. If we try to do so, we have to add several specialties at the same time to make it complete. The author thinks it better to admit that DC has different legal character in different stage unless we can admit DC is a special conception by itself, and one same DC may lead to different legal relationship between the joining parties in different stage while its legal character changes.