Resolve The Bill Of Lading "i Do Not Know The Terms

"Unknown Clause" is a general term. It means the words "quantity unknown","weight unknown"," said to weight" and "said to contain" or other words expressing the same meaning which the carrier may add to the Bill of Lading, if he had no reasonable means to check the number of weight or quantity of the goods, or the contents of the goods. The carrier is willing to add this clause to a bill of lading because the clause can relieve or remit his liability. More and more disputes are related with the Unknown Clause in the maritime practice. The existence of the Unknown Clause may be unfavorable to the consignee or the holder of the Bill of Lading once the weight or the content of the goods are not the same as described in the Bill of Lading. So, it is necessary to make an systematically study of this clause.There are six parts of this article:The preface mainly introduces the purpose of this article and the present research condition of the Unknown Clause.The first part of this article introduces the general problem of the Unknown Clause. Fist, the existence of the Unknown Clause is reasonable and lawful. According to the function of receipt of Bill of Lading, the carrier has the obligation to deliver goods to the consignee at the port of delivery, with the goods at the same condition as they were received by the carrier at the port of shipment. Otherwise, the carrier may be obliged to compensate the damages which the consignee suffered. However, the contents of the description of goods were provided by the consignor, which were not always exact because of varies reasons. It is unfair for the carrier to undertake a responsibility arouse from other's behavior. In order to escape from this puzzle Dom, the carrier added an "Unknown Clause" to the Bill of Lading. And it is confirmed by the international conventions and national legislations. Second, this part introduces the manifestation of the Unknown Clause. Usually, it shows as "weight unknown","weight unknown"," said to weight" ,but manifested as "said to contain" or "SLAC-Shipper's load and Count "while use containers to hold the goods. Third, this part gives a study to the legal character of the Unknown Clause. In the author' opinion, the essence of the Unknown Clause is to help the carrier to escape from the liability of compensation no matter it says preservation or disclaimer. So, the Unknown Clause is an escape clause on the Bill of Lading, though it appeals like a Bill of Lading remarks. Forth, in this part, the author analyses the relationship between the Unknown Clause and the clean Bill of Lading. The Bill of Lading may be unclean if there are words like "packaging unsolid","packaging cracked" or words like that. We get the conclusion that the Unknown Clause may not make the Bill of Lading unclean.The second part analyzes the infection of the Unknown Clause. First, the description of the goods in the Bill of Lading can not bind the carrier if there is a valid unknown clause in the Bill of Lading, even if the Bill of Lading transferred to a bona fide third party. That is to say that the most directive infection is that the clause changes the character of the Bill of Lading as conclusive evidence between the carrier and the consignee or a third party. Second, this clause may aggregate the burden of proof of the party who ask for the compensation in the maritime litigation. Third, because of the aggregation of the burden of proof, it is possible for the party who ask for compensation to suffer the unfavorable results. Forth, this clause may affect the limitation of liability of the carrier if goods are carried in containers. The carrier may escape from the liability to pay compensation within the scope which he is "unknown" because the validity of this clause. If the party who claim for compensation failed to prove exact number of goods carried in the container, the container will be the unit of account while count the limitation of liability of the carrier.The third part of this article introduces the validity conformation of the Unknown Clause. In this part, we discuss different opinions about how to determine the validity of the Unknown Clause. There are two different opinions about the validity of the Unknown Clause. Someone thinks that the Unknown Clause belongs to the clause which eases the obligation and responsibility of the carrier, so it should be treated as invalid. The others recognize the Unknown Clause as valid, though there are differences between them. England is a big traditional sea transportation country, which treated the Unknown Clause as valid in order to protect the interests of the carrier; however, the USA is apt to protect the interests of the consignor and consignee, which recognized the Unknown Clause as valid just when the "unknown" accorded with fact. The author agrees with the point of view of the USA The original intention of the legislation is to protect the proper rights of the carrier, not to make them abused. In this part, the author also introduces the abusing of this clause. When goods are carried in the container, the Unknown Clause will be deemed invalid if goods were arranged by the carrier.The forth part of this article gives suggestion on how to amend our own maritime law. The Maritime Code of the People's Republic of China was implemented in 1993, and the article about the Unknown Clause is just copied from the Hamburg Rules, which can not fit the realism of our country, it is necessary to amend the code. The author suggests that the law should give a definition to the Unknown Clause, and should regulate the validity of the clause in different conditions. And in the practice, the carrier should not abuse this clause. The consignor must pay more attention to the Unknown Clause in order to protect their legal rights.The conclusion part summarizes the main opinion of this article.