1921 EXPLAINED BY SANFORD D. COLE Solicitor, Member of the Maritime Law Committee of the International SECOND EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED U.VA. MAR 9 1995 LAW LIBRARY LONDON EFFINGHAM WILSON 16 COPTHALL AVENUE, E. C. 2 1922 PREFACE In view of the wide interest taken by commercial and shipping men and bankers in the proposals to simplify and standardise on an international basis the risks to be assumed by sea carriers under a bill of lading, it is thought that an explanatory summary of the scheme with a short account of the events which led to the preparation of the Hague Rules, 1921, defining the risks referred to, may be of interest. The introductory part of this small book gives the history of the Hague Rules, which are the work of the Maritime Law Committee of the International Law Association, with a condensed explanatory statement of their contents. Following the text of the Rules are some notes dealing with special points, including the question of "Received for Shipment" bills of lading. NOTE TO SECOND EDITION As a considerable demand for copies of this explanation of the Hague Rules continues, the book has been revised and enlarged. Since it was first published discussion of the proposed new code of conditions has proceeded actively, not only in the United Kingdom and British Dominions, but also in European countries, in America and in Japan. The Introduction has, therefore, been extended so as to include reference to more recent events foreshadowing the adoption of the Rules in actual business soon after the beginning of February, which was the time proposed. It appears probable that they will, to an increasing extent, be incorporated in bills of lading, especially those issued on shipment of goods by liners. The detailed notes have been much expanded, and all the principal points arising have been dealt with. The French text of the Rules and the text of the American and Canadian Acts have been added in Appendices. Most of the bills of lading in use throughout the world are in English, and comparative references in the notes are mainly to English and American law, but it has been kept in view throughout that the Hague Rules were drawn up as a self-contained international code independent of national laws and capable of use anywhere. S. D. C. January, 1922. |