Problems Relating to Legal Status of Multimodal Transport Documents as Documents of Title under English Common Law
Keywords:
Multimodal transport, Multimodal transport document, Document of titleAbstract
The current cross-border transport of goods has been shifted from unimodal carriage of goods to an integrated multimodal transport where two or more modes of transport are involved in one journey under a single contract. This phenomenon is obviously a by-product of containerisation and technological developments in terms of transport operations and relevant infrastructure. Despite the constant growth of containerisation and multimodal transport operations, the peculiar but true fact is that, in terms of regulatory framework, there has been no successful attempt that could achieve global uniformity. Therefore, the fragmented and disharmonious legal framework on multimodal transport both at international level and national level is inevitable. Moreover, there is no specific law regulating multimodal transport in many countries including England. In terms of multimodal transport documents, a lack of international set of rules regulating multimodal transport leads to the situation where the legal status and functions of multimodal transport documents are ambiguous and it can possibly jeopadise the legal value of this type of transport documents in various dimensions including the legal status as document of title which entitles consignees and transferees the right to claim delivery at the destination as well as the right to trade goods in transit. Providing that this legal uncertainty still remains, not only the rights of consignees and transferee is put at risk, at the larger scale, it can negatively affect international trade transaction as a whole. This article aims to analyse the appropriateness and possibility that multimodal transport documents could be considered as documents of title in the same level as maritime bills of lading under English common law. From the discussion in this article, it is found that, in order to provide proportionate protection to all stakeholders involving in multimodal transport contracts and according to the prevalence of multimodal transport, the status as document of title is likely to be granted by the English Court in the near future.
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