The Negotiable Transport Document

With the emergence of a long-distance land-based trade, along with the expansion of a non-sea based multimodal trade, a demand arose for a negotiable transport document which is not limited to marine transport. A series of international conventions responded to such demand by providing for new types of negotiable transport documents. However, these conventions failed to accord to such documents the features of a document of title and to clarify their negotiable character. The task of overcoming this obstacle is hindered by the fragmentary nature of the law governing the marine bill of lading, which is the classic transport document serving as a document of title. Endeavouring to clarify and rationalise that law and using English law as a basis for the investigation, this article critically discusses the negotiability and legal nature of transferable transport documents with a view to providing a cohesive, harmonised legal framework to govern them and form the basis for a subsequent adaptation to apply to electronic transport records