Opinion ID: 1688556
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: bills of lading

Text: Precision and King Ocean entered into an agreement for the shipment of Precision's goods by King Ocean by executing a through bill of lading. A bill of lading is a document evidencing the receipt of goods for shipment issued by a person engaged in the business of transporting or forwarding goods. See UCC § 1-201(6) (1995). The value of a bill of lading is found in the multiple roles that it plays: first, it is the best evidence of the contract of carriage between the carrier and the seller; second, it serves as the receipt for the goods under transport; and third, it is a document of title to property which can be endorsed and negotiated. See William Tetley, Marine Cargo Claims (3d ed.1988). A through bill of lading may be thought of as a bill of lading with long legs. It is designed for the carriage of goods from one place to another by several shipowners or railway companies. Sir Thomas Edward Scrutton, Charterparties and Bills of Lading 72 (9th ed.1919). The through bill of lading emerged as international trade developed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, especially between the United States and Europe. See generally Thomas Gilbert Carver, Carriage of Goods by Sea (6th ed.1918). As to its legal import, Carver wrote that: When a contract for a through journey is made with a carrier or contractor, he is answerable for its complete performance, although it may be intended that some part of the carrying shall be done by others, unless the contract expressly limits his liability to his own part of the journey. Apart, then, from such a limitation, the first carrier with whom the contract is made may be liable for a breach of it after the goods have left his hands. But the carrier in whose hands they were when the breach was committed is also generally liable, if the through contract was made for his benefit, and with his authority; and, on the other hand, he is entitled to the benefit of the exceptions of liability which the contract may contain. Id. at 162 (citations omitted). Put another way, [a] pure through bill of lading is a contract whereby the first carrier contracts to carry from point `A' to point `B' and on to final destination `C[.]' The goods are received and the first carrier carries to point `B' and a second carrier carries to point `C[.]' There even may be intermediate carriers, but in every case the claimant may call upon the first carrier for any loss along the route whether or not the loss took place in the first carrier's hands. William Tetley, Marine Cargo Claims 253 (1965). More recently, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has defined a through bill of lading as one issued in a foreign country to govern a shipment throughout its transportation from abroad to its final destination in the United States. Capitol Converting Equip., Inc. v. LEP Transp., Inc., 965 F.2d 391, 394 (7th Cir.1992).