Carriage of goods •
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The law relating to carriage may be studded under three heads: (I) carriage by land including inland navigation, (II) carriage by sea and (III) carriage by air. This is a convenient classication because these three branches of law of carriage are governed by dierent rinciles and dierent statutes.
!tatutes relating to the law of carriage •
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!tatutes relating to the law of carriage are: Carriage by land: The Carriers "ct #$%&, The 'ailway "ct #$ Carriage by sea: The *ills of +anding "ct #$&%, The Carriage of oods by !ea "ct #-&, The Insurance "ct -#, The *angladesh /erchant !hiing 0rdinance, #$1 Carriage by air: Carriage *y "ir "ct, #12 The statutes mentioned above are not e3haustive, the court aly e4uity and good conscience
Carriers: denition, classication and characteristics •
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"ny erson or organi5ation by an e3ress or imlied contract with or without remuneration carries goods and6or assengers is called a Carrier. overnment services can be called carrier if it is comes within the above denition., e.g., *angladesh 'ailway. Classication: carriers may be classied into carriers of goods and carriers of assengers. The same carrier may of course carry both goods and assengers. It is more usual to classify carriers into common carriers or ublic carriers and rivate carriers.
Common carriers or ublic carriers •
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The Carriers "ct of #$%& denes a common carrier as any individual, rm or comany (other than the government) who transort goods as business for money over land or inland waterways without discrimination between dierent consignors The 7ost 08ce: the ost o8ce is not a common carrier. It is not an agent of the sender to deliver a ostal article to the addressee. It is really a branch of the ublic service roviding ostal services sub9ect to the rovisions of the 7ost 08ce "ct and the rules made there under.
Characteristics of common carriers or ublic carriers •
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It may be a rm or individual or a comany. *ut the government is not included in the category. The ost o8ce is not a common carrier, although it may carry goods 0nly carriers of goods come within the denition. " carrier of assenger is not a common carrier " common carrier is one who carries goods for business and money. rom this it follows that one who carries goods occasionally is not a common carrier. "lso one who carries goods free is not a common carrier.
Characteristics of common carriers or ublic carriers •
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" common carrier is one who is ready to carry the goods of any erson without any discrimination The term common carrier is alied only in the case of carriage by land and over inland waterways
Characteristics of common carriers or ublic carriers
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7rivate carrier: a rivate carrier is one who does not do regular business as a carrier but occasionally carries goods for money. !uose that a contractor has a lorry which he uses mainly for transorting his own goods but sometimes he let it out on hire to others. The contractor is a rivate carrier. rom the occasional nature of a rivate carriers 9ob, it follows that he can discriminate between dierent hirers. ;e is not bound to carry the goods of any and everybody. " common carrier (sub9ect to certain e3cetion) is bound to do so. ratuitous carrier: a gratuitous carrier is one who carries goods (or assengers) without any charge. The owner of a motor car who gives a lift to a friend is a gratuitous carrier
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The duties of a common carrier are determined by The Carrier "ct #$%& are as follows: /ust carry goods without discrimination: a common carrier is bound to carry goods of every erson without any discrimination. *ut certain e3cetions are recogni5ed. " common can refuse to carry under the following circumstances: If the customer is not willing to ay reasonable charges for the carriage If there is no accommodation in the carriage if the goods are dangerous or are of a tye which the carrier is not accustomed to carry and
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If the goods are to be carried over a route with which the carrier is not familiar. " carrier is entitled to conned himself to the carriage of a articular tye of goods and6or over articular route. In such cases the carrier can refuse to carry the goods over unaccustomed routes and to carry goods which he does not usually carry. If a carrier without any of the reasons mentioned above, refuses to carry the goods of a erson he can be sued and the customer can recover damages.
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=ithin the time and lace: the carrier must deliver the goods at the agreed time or (if no time had been agreed uon) within a reasonable time. The lace of delivery is sub9ect to contract. =ith safety: the goods must be carried with reasonable recautions for their safety and over the usual and ordinary route. /ust insure: according to the >nglish Common +aw a common carrier of goods is an insurer, i.e., he is bound to indemnify the owner in full for loss or damage to the goods in course of carriage. This liability is sub9ect to certain e3cetions (rights of a common carrier) =ithout deviation: deviation are not ermitted unless rendered necessary by e3cetional circumstances
'ights of a common carrier •
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=hen not bound to carry goods: a common carrier is not bound to carry goods under certain circumstances (e3lain earlier) >ntitled to reasonable charges: he is entitled to reasonable charges for his wor?, he can allow concession rates to some customers but cannot demand unreasonably high ayments from anybody. =hat is reasonable deends on the circumstances of the case. ;as lien: he has lien on the goods for his remuneration and can refuse to deliver the goods until his dues are aid. This is ?nown as the Carriers +ien.
'ights of a common carrier •
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!tes for refusal of delivery: if the consignee refuses to accet delivery of the goods, the carrier is at liberty to ta?e such stes as are reasonable and rudent under the circumstances. ;e can recover all reasonable e3enses incurred by him in this connection from the arty with whom the contract of carriage was entered into.
3emtions: the carrier can sub9ect to the rovisions of the Carriers "ct entered into secial contracts e3emting him from liability under
+iabilities of a common carrier •
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The liabilities of a common carrier of goods in *angladesh are laid down in the Carriers "ct #$%&. This "ct divides goods into two categories: schedule and @onA!chedule. !chedule goods are certain articles enumerated in a schedule to the "c. They are valuable articles li?e gold, silver, 9ewelry, aintings, sil?, title deeds, currency notes and coins, etc. all other articles are @onA!chedule.
'ules regarding the liability of a common carriers •
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or schedule articles e3ceeding T? # in value the carrier is liable for all loss and damages, if the value and the descrition of the goods are disclosed by the consignor to the carrier or if the loss or damage is due to a criminal act of the carrier, his agent or servant The common carrier can charge e3tra for carrying scheduled articles but cannot limit his statutory liability by any secial agreement The liability of a common carrier can be limited by agreement under the rovisions of sections % and $ of the "ct but that there must be a limitation of the liability.
'ules regarding the liability of a common carriers •
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The common carrier is resonsible for loss or damage caused by negligence of criminal acts done by himself, his agents or servants In case of loss or damage the claimant must notify the carrier within si3 months of the date of ?nowledge of the loss or damage. The above rules aly only to common carriers as dened by the Carriers "ct #$%&. Thus they do not aly to carrier or assengers or to railways.
/easure of damages •
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The measure of damages for delay for goods lost or damaged is the dierence between the value of the goods at the time when they ought to have been delivered and at the time when they were actually delivered It is well settled that it is the mar?et rice at the time the damage occurred which is the damage to be awarded. Union of India v. West Punjab Factories Ltd., also Hadly v. Baxendale, p. 1! of "en and #itra
Carriage by sea •
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Carriage of goods by sea from any ort in *angladesh to any other ort or in outside *angladesh is govern by the Carriage of oods by !ea "ct of #-&. This "ct based uon the recommendations of the International Conference on /aritime +aw held in *russels in #- The ob9ect of the Conference was to secure uniformity of laws as regards the rights and liabilities of carriers by sea and the rules regarding bill of landing The *angladesh /erchant !hiing 0rdinance #$1 was assed with the ob9ect of amending and consolidating the *angladesh law relating to
The contract of areightment •
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The contract to carry goods by sea is called the Contract of "reightment. The consignor (or his agent) and the shi owner (or his agent) are two arties to the contract The consideration aid for the carriage is called reight The contract of areightment may be incororated in a formal document containing the terms of the agreement between the arties. !uch a document is called Charter 7arty. !ometimes there is no formal document, the shi owner merely gives a receit for the goods and in the receit (?nown as the *ill of +anding) some of the terms of the contract are written down
Charter 7arty •
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" Charter 7arty may be dened as an agreement in writing for the urose of hiring as entire shi or a art thereof for the urose of carriage of goods. The erson hiring the shi or a art is called the charterer The following tyes of charter arty are found: a charter arty for a articular eriod of time is called a Time Charter " charter arty for a articular voyage is called Boyage Charter
Charter 7arty •
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The terms of the charter arty may amount to a lease or demise of the whole shi to the charter for a stated eriod. In this case the charterer becomes for the time being the owner of the vessel and the catain and the crew becomes his servants during the charter eriod If the terms of the charter arty do not amount to a lease or demise the charterer only gets the right to have his goods conveyed by the shi and the catain and the crew do not becomes his servants, although their services are at the disosal do the charterer for the urose of carriage
Terms of charter arty •
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" charter arty is deemed to contain all terms of the contract between the charter and the shi owner. The clauses in a charter arty usually deals with the following matters: 7ageA1# of !en and /itra
*ill of landing •
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" bill of landing is a receit for goods delivered to a shi for carriage. " bill of landing is used when the goods shied from only a art of the cargo of the shi. Characteristics: signature, evidence, ac?nowledgement, document of title, age 1unctions: age 1
Carriage by air The Carriage by "ir "ct #12, Carriage by "ir (International Convention) "ct #%% the and the Carriage by "ir (!ulementary Convention) "ct, #%$ was assed with ob9ective of getting ower to aly the rules contained in the =arsaw Convention (treaty of =arsaw #-) as amended by the ;ague 7rotocol (#&&) also to nonAinternational carriages sub9ect to e3cetions, adation and modication ;igh contracting arty: who attended and were the signatories to the convention of =arsaw convention and the 7rotocol of the ;ague Convention
Carriage by air •
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International carriage by air: age 2& =hen liable: age 2& 'ules relating liability of a carrier: age 2& and 2% Internal carriage by air: age 2 The rocedure for reali5ing for damages: age 2 and 2$
