실무에서 나타나는 다양한 선하증권과 그 대용물

Abstract

The Bill of Lading(B/L) has three functions such as a kind of contract for the carriage of goods by sea, a receipt of the goods and document of title. These functions of the B/L play great role in facilitating international trade between countries. However, some of functions impedes to the easy and fast receipt of the goods at the discharging port. The merchants have developed new methods to solve this problem. House B/L and Master B/L, Surrendered B/L, Delivery Order and Letter of Indemnity are those of good examples. The author tries to explain these various types of B/L engaged in the shipping practice in Korea, compared with the original negotiable B/L. The legal effects of these B/L are in doubt because Korean Commercial Code do not expressly stipulates on them. The House B/L rather than Master B/L is recognized as the B/L for negotiation to the issuing bank of L/C by the Korean courts. Whether the agreement in the rear side of the original B/L binds the holder of the surrendered B/L or not is in dispute in Korea. If the Korean maritime law does not catch up with the merchan’s practice on the new types of the B/L and its substitutes, the easy commercial transactions for the carriage of goods may be hampered due to legal uncertainty. In conclusion, the author makes several proposals to give legal certainty(foreseeability) to the stakeholders such as the carrier, shipper, consignee and banks who are involved in the various types of B/Ls engaged in the Korean shipping practice.