On The Legal Liabilities Of Ship's Agent Who Delivers Goods Without Production Of Bills Of Lading

As the shipping industry divides into many branches, the cooperation between different branches becomes increasingly crucial, that means the carrier of goods carried by sea can't and needn't perform everything related to the carriage of goods by sea .Usually the carrier will delegate some of these things to their agents in order to promote their efficiency ,and this results in that ship's agent has a wild range of business including from receiving booking from the shipper on behalf of the carrier to supplying fuel to the carrier's ships. Among the business of ship's agent, one is crucially important, that is to deliver goods to the consignee on behalf of the carrier .Under modern circumstances, the speed of ships has been tremendously increased, but the speed of the circulation of bills of lading has, on the other hand .rarely been increased ,that means the arrival of goods canied by sea at the port of unloading is much earlier than the arrival of bills of lading. This situation gives rise to the common practice of delivering goods without production of bills of lading against the letter of indemnity, and this is seriously against the maritime law. Ship's agents will usually do this kind of practice under the pressure of consignees or carriers , which will put them under great risk of potential legal liabilities to the holders of bills of lading ,and the aim of this article is to discuss these very potential legal liabilities of ship's agents .The article is dividend into four chapters:Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction to the ship's agent and the differences between a ship's agent and other kinds of agents, a brief introduction is also given to the basic rules of agency law.Chapter 2 discusses the related legal issues of delivering goods carried by sea without production of bills of lading.. First, the nature and functions of bills of lading is examined, then the nature of the act of delivering goods carried by sea without production of bills of lading is analyzed .At last ,the corresponding potential liabilities of this act is discussed .This chapter is the basis for the further discussion of the article.Chapter 3 specifically deals with the question of the liabilities of ship's agent who delivers goods carried by sea without production of bills of lading.Chapter 4 focus on the immunities and defenses of the ship's agent who is liable for it's delivering goods carried by sea without production of bills of lading...