Section 1469 in The Indian Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 1925
1469.
Object and Reason.- A bill of lading was originally a receipt for the goods placed on a ship and also a document for transferring the title of the goods to the consignee. With the development of trade, it became recognised as a negotiable instrument in which shippers, the carriers and the consignees or purchasers of the goods as well as hankers and under writers became increasingly interested. Concurrently with this it became the custom to show on the bill of lading the terms of the contract on which the goods were delivered to and received by the ship, and from time to time new clauses were added usually in the direction of contracting the carrier out of liability for some kind of loss or damage to the goods. There thus arose great diversity between the conditions on which goods were carried by sea and considerable uncertainty about the liabilities which still attached to the carrier.2. There has been a demand for many years among the different commercial interests which handle bills of lading for uniformity among all maritime countries in the definition of the liabilities and risks attaching to the carrier of goods by sea. Some countries, e.g Canada, Australia, and the United States of America, enacted legislation prohibiting carriers of goods by sea from contracting themselves out of certain kinds of liability. The matter was discussed at several International Conferences between shipowners, shippers and hankers if an attempt to secure the universal adoption of an agreed set of rules.3. A Code of rules was drawn up in 1921 by the International Law Association at the Hague. These were subjected to criticism by the various interests affected till finally agreement was reached at the International Conferences on Maritime Law held in Brussels in October, 1922, and again in October 1923. A Code of rules defining the responsibilities and liabilities to which a carrier of goods by sea should he subject and also the rights and immunities he was entitled to enjoy was drawn up, and it was unanimously recommended that every country should give legal sanction to these rules. The United Kingdom has done so by the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (1924) (14 and 15 Geo. V, c. 22). It is proposed to do the same in India by this Bill.4. This Bill follows closely the English Act. The agreed Code of rules are reproduced in the Schedule. Clause 5 of the Bill exempts from these rules goods carried in the coasting trade under documents other than bills of lading whilst Clause 6 saves the carrier from claims for shortage of weight in certain cases of bulk shipments where, by the custom of the trade, the weight entered in the bill of lading is a weight ascertained or accepted by a third part other than the carrier or shipper and this fact is so stated in the bill of lading. - Gazette of India, 1925, Part V, page 37.Report Of Joint CommitteeThe following report of the Joint Committee on the Bill to amend the law with respect to the carriage of goods by sea was presented to the Legislative Assembly on the 31st August 1925.We the undersigned Members of the Joint Committee to which the Bill to amend the law with respect to the carriage of goods by sea was referred, have considered the Bill and the papers noted in the margin and have now the honour to submit this our Report, with the Bill as amended by us annexed thereto.We have made one change in the Bill, the substitution of new Cl. 5.Original Cl. 5, following lines of the English Act, exempted the whole of the coasting trade from the requirement that in all cases a bill of lading should be issued subject to the conditions prescribed in the Rules, that is to say, such trade was excluded from the operation of the Rules.It is clear from the opinions received that, contrary to the English practice. bills of lading are almost invari ably issued by steamship companies engaged in the Indian coasting trade, and that it is the desire of the mercantile community that the provisions of the Bill relating to bills of lading should apply to such trade.It is not however, the practice for sailing vessels engaged in the coasting trade or proceeding from Indian ports to issue bills of lading and these have been exempted accordingly.The provision in Clause (b) is intended to cover the case of goods carried by the South Indian Railway ferry boat from Dhanushkodi to Talaimanar. Bills of lading are not issued for the short sea journey and cargo is carried subject to the provisions of the Railways Act.Minute Of Dissent[By Purshotamdas Thakurdas] "I think it is necessary to draw the attention of the Indian legislature to the opinion of Mr. Justice J. R. Ellis Cunliffe of the Rangoon High Court. He says that the English statute corresponding to the Bill under report 'was the result of a so-called International Maritime Conference at Brussels, which has been subject to acute criticism on the part of high legal authorities at Home'. These authorities 'regarded the draft provisions of the Bill as being extremely difficult to interpret and likely to lead to much unnecessary litigation arising out of their obscurity'. The learned Judge further remarks :The construction of Article 6 under the Schedule will be extremely difficult to decide. How the Courts are to conic to a satisfactory conclusion as to whether the stipulation mentioned in the first part of the Article is or is not contrary to public opinion, I do not know. And further, the ordinary trader is hound to be in very great doubt as to the difference between the receipt mentioned therein, which is ruled to be a non-negotiable instrument and to be so marked and, the ordinary bill of lading which is, by custom largely a formally printed document.The only reason that I know for recommending the Indian Legislature to adopt the Rules given in the Schedule to this Bill is to ensure uniformity in a matter which has been under discussion between experts of the various countries for a number of years. But in this long and protracted discussion, it must be noted that, Indian interests had no direct say or representation. Whilst I see no reason, so far, to oppose the Bill as amended by the "Select Committee". I deem it my duty to bring the opinion expressed by Justice Cunliffe to the notice of the Legislature by a separate Minute. - Gazette of India. 1925, Part V, page 205.
