Perfection Of The Legal System Concerning The Transport Documents In The Carriage Of Goods By Sea

Transport documents are very important in the carriage of goods at sea. They play a significant role in the international sale of goods, settlement and transportation. With the integration of economy and rapid development of science and technology, the traditional ocean bills of lading are facing severe challenges. The new forms of transport documents including seaway bill and electronic bill of lading have changed the operating modes of transportation at sea. Therefore, it has become an urgent need to improve the system of documents used in the carriage of goods by sea in order to suit the development of ocean shipping.The dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter discusses the extent of documents used in the transportation as well as the development of legal system of such documents. The next three chapters discuss the traditional bill of lading, seaway bill and electronic bill of lading respectively. Analysis is made on the legal attributes of bill of lading, seaway bill and electronic bill of lading and their legal system, which are not adaptable to ocean shipping today. The fifth chapter analyses the constitution and defective of the legal system of documents used in the carriage of goods by sea in terms of legal style. It also points out that our legal style of the system of documents used in the carriage of goods by sea can be made up of two parts including written law and case law. In the end, this chapter puts forward suggestions for perfecting Chinese legal system of documents used in the carriage of goods by sea in terms of the perfection of written law and construction of case law.