Research On Contract Modification In Carriage Of Goods By Sea

Sometimes, due to the influence of external factors or changes of trade contract, the contract of carriage of goods by sea also needs to be changed.However, the change of the contract of carriage of goods by sea is usually because of a party or other right holders claim their rights to the carrier in order to achieve the purpose of adjusting transport. In dealing with such specific issues, as China’s relevant laws and regulations about contract of carriage of good by sea are relatively indistinct and simple, we meet a lot of the operation problems and controversies in practice.This paper combines domestic and international judicial practice and legislation, discuss some aspects of the contract of carriage of goods by sea in detail. First part of this paper introduces the general situation of contract change, defines the change of contract of carriage of good by sea, and analyzes the characteristics of the change of contract of carriage of goods by sea. The main characteristics include the particularity of object of the contract, the correlation with trade contract, and contract constraining the third party.The second part of this paper mainly discusses about the relevant legal provisions which adjusting the change of contract of carriage of good by sea, straighten out relevant regulations of the change of contract of carriage of good by sea in China’s laws, common law, civil law and international treaties and conventions.The third part discusses the relationship between changes to the contract of carriage of goods and other systems, especially the bill of lading system and cargo control rights system, because the carriage of goods by sea inevitably involves the bill of lading, and cargo control rights system provides a solving thought. So the detailed account is necessary. The fourth part of the paper analyzes the ways and procedures of the change of contract of carriage of goods by sea, study the various change ways and analyzes the defects of these ways in practice. The fifth part is the discussion of the time of change, point out the change ways getting different restrictions depending on the different time of the change happened during the transport. The sixth part sets out the meaning of improving our system of changing contract of carriage of goods by sea and gives some suggestions. Last part draws the conclusion of the paper.