The Delivery Of The Goods Under The Contract Of Carriage Of Goods By Sea

International contract of carriage of goods by sea may lead to many disputes, among which the loss of or damage to the goods, delay in delivery, delivery of goods without presentation of original bills of lading, etc, have frequently attracted attention. However, few people care for the issue regarding delivery of goods. In combination of discussions on practice and legal issues of delivery of goods home and abroad, this dissertation analyzes some defects on Chinese law and renders advice on how to resolve matters relating to delivery of goods.The whole dissertation consists of four chapters.Chapter 1 discusses identification of the carrier. In the practice of contact of carriage of goods by sea, the most important question might be who has the obligation to deliver the goods. In answering this question, the identification of the carrier therefore becomes very important. There are many leading cases in Common law, but some judgments are different so that parties to the contract are at a loss. International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to Bills of Lading (Hague Rules) promoted unification of international maritime law, but the Rules had its defect in that the definition of the carrier was vague. Thus the definition easily led to argument.The Maritime Code of the People 's Republic of China (CMC) adopts some regulation of United Nations Convention on the Carnage of Goods by Sea (Hamburg Rules), in which carrier is defined as the person by whom or in whose name a contract of carriage of goods by sea has been concluded with a shipper. The definition of the carrier in CMC solves the problem of vagueness in Hague Rules. According to theory and practice the identification of the carrier depends on issuing bills of lading. Thus the identification of the carrier becomes simplified and easy. In addition CMC establishes "the actual carrier", and makes the definition of the carrier perfect.Chapter 2 deals with delivery, the notice of delivery of the goods, the place and time of delivery of the goods, delivery of the goods when mixed and delivery of oil. CMC makes no provision on the above-mentioned matters except time of delivery of goods so that it leads to many disputes in practice.In discussing the above aspects, references are made to maritime works and cases in Britain and US. The author also seeks in this chapter to furnish advice as to how to resolve disputes arising out of shipping industry.This dissertation emphasizes on chapter 3. This chapter is about problems that no person takes delivery of the goods at the port where the goods is discharged. Article 86 in CMC entitles the carrier to takes some measures when no person takes delivery of the goods, the consignee has delayed or refused the taking delivery of goods at the port of discharge. In fact this article is not manoeuvrable. This dissertation makes research into English Merchant Shipping Act1894, compares Merchant Code in Macao with Merchant Code in South Korea and makes judicial suggestion.Chapter 4 is about the title to sue. The title to sue has perplexed courts for many years and maritime courts disagree with one another. They focuses on the shipper's title to sue. CMC makes provision that the person who delivers the goods or concludes the contract with the carrier is the shipper, but some maritime courts only takes the person who conclude a contract with the carrier for the shipper. This passage makes research into some cases about the shipper's title to sue in Britain and its Bills of Lading in 1855 and Carriage of Goods by Sea in 1992,analyzes "Final Outline Draft of CMI Uniform Transport Code" and points out China should adopt the title to sue in "Final Outline Draft of CMI Uniform Transport Code".This dissertation analyzes theory and cases home and abroad, and concludes that the identification of the carrier depends on the issuing of bills of lading. Whoever issues the Bills of Lading is the carrier, no matter whether he issues a bill of lading or not. When no person takes delivery of goods , consignee has delay...