The Legal Nature and Functions of the Bill of Lading
Article 119 of the Maritime Code of Georgia defines the bill of lading as a document of title to goods which confirms the contract of carriage by sea and the receipt or loading of the goods by the carrier. The same article provides that on presentation of the bill of lading the carrier is obliged to deliver the goods. This statutory definition shapes the entire logic of bill of lading disputes: the document performs simultaneously the functions of confirmation of the contract, of a receipt and of a document disposing of the goods.
Article 120 extends these rules to the issue procedure: after receiving the goods on board, the carrier is obliged, at the request of the shipper, to hand over to him a bill of lading (or a sea waybill) confirming that the carrier has received the goods indicated in the bill of lading. The carrier may instead of a bill of lading or sea waybill issue another document confirming the receipt of the goods for carriage — such a document constitutes primary evidence of the carrier’s receipt of the goods and of the contract of carriage by sea. The bill of lading is drawn up on the basis of a document signed by the shipper which must contain the data referred to in Article 121 of the Code, and the shipper himself answers to the carrier for the consequences of entering incorrect, inaccurate or incomplete data in that document.
The Mandatory Contents of a Bill of Lading
Article 121 lists the data that must be indicated in a bill of lading: the general characteristics of the goods, the main marks necessary for their identification, an express statement of any dangerous or special properties of the goods, and the number of places or objects and the weight or quantity of the goods — all data as presented by the shipper; the apparent order and condition of the goods; the name of the carrier and the address of its principal place of business; the name of the shipper; the name of the consignee (a straight bill of lading), delivery to the order of a named person (an order bill of lading) or delivery of the goods against presentation of the document (a bearer bill of lading); the port of loading in accordance with the contract and the date on which the carrier received the goods for shipment; the port of discharge; the number of originals, if more than one; an indication whether the carriage is governed by the Hague-Visby Rules or by the Hamburg Rules; where appropriate, an indication that the goods are or may be stowed on deck; the amount of freight payable by the receiver; the place and date of issue; and the signature of the carrier or of a person acting on its behalf.
The Hague-Visby Rules are the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading of 1924, while the Hamburg Rules are the United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea of 1978. The indication of which rules govern the carriage is not a formality: the grounds and limits of the carrier’s liability follow directly from it. When examining a bill of lading, attention should therefore focus first on precisely this indication, since it determines the strategy of the dispute from the outset.