On The Duty Of The Carrier Pipe In Liner Shipping Of Goods

Care of cargo is a main obligation of the carrier during the carriage of goods by sea. Since The Harter Act enacted in 1893, it is imposed on the carrier forcibly and non-delegablly. In respect that this obligation is always not attached importance to, moreover the international conventions and the national laws provide it compactly, there are many divergences and mistakes in practice and academia. This thesis is planed to analyze and demonstrate this obligation in detail, and tries to clarify the issues below: 1, the differences in the obligation standards among the carrier, the common carrier and the bailee, and the differences in the obligation standards between care of cargo and making the ship seaworthy; 2, combined with the cases and shipping practice, solving the problems which is produced in fulfilling the obligation; 3, with the principle of law, analyzing the character of the responsibility which should assume when the care of cargo obligation is breached; 4, introducing the provisions about care of cargo obligation in Preliminary Draft Instrument on the Carriage of Goods by Sea and expressing my opinions.According to the purpose above, the thesis is divided into four chapters. The first is about the standard of the obligation. In this part, I cite some cases and decisions to explain the meaning of "properly and carefully" above all. Then, with the purpose of distinguish discriminations, I compare it one by one with the standards which the common carrier and bailee must be complied when they fulfil the care of cargo obligation, and the standard of the obligation of making the ship seaworthy. The second chapter states the content of the carrier's obligation of care of cargo in detail. This obligation includes seven taches in the provision of The Hague rules and The Hague/Visby Rules. Though the content is clear in literal, there are many issues in practice, which need to be regulated by law. For example, When responsibility begins "at" loading, the relationsbetween stowage and seaworthy, the content of each obligation of carry, keep and care for, the exact meaning of delivery, and so on. In this part, I unite traditions with cases, and make suggestions to the legislation. In the third chapter, I make a qualitative analysis with the principle of law to the responsibility that should assume when the care of cargo obligation is breached, including the course of development, the character and the period. I sketch out the trend of the responsibility evolution that is from light to heavy, and summarize the advantage and disadvantage of each kind of the period of responsibility. The forth part presents the content of Preliminary Draft Instrument on the Carriage of Goods by Sea, and gives my point of view. This draft, which attracts the attention of the world, on the one hand, represents the newest and the most authoritative views in the domain of carriage of goods by sea. On the other hand, it makes a good effect of reference to the amendment and theoretic research of The Maritime Law of China. As a large country in which ocean shipping is important, the distribution of the right and duty in the international conventions of carriage of goods by sea directly effects the development of our marine. Therefore, relation to the subject of this thesis, I comprehensively dissertates the care of cargo obligation in the draft, and brings forward my point of view.The thesis has mainly these characteristics below. First, I refer to a lot of cases in the course of writing, especially the cases of British and American, and cite many famous decisions. These cases and decisions are accumulations over hundreds of years in ocean shipping and judgement practice in these countries, mixed with experience and wisdom, and they are significant to the theoretic research, analyze and exercise in the domain of maritime law. The second, in the fourth part of the thesis, i.e. the Preliminary Draft Instrument on the Carriage of Goods by Sea, I consult a great amount of English data about this draft, most of which is the newest...