Comparative Study of Bill of Lading Function as Title Document

Abstract

One of the new transformations in the scope of maritime transportation about shipping documents includes non-paper (electronic) maritime transport documents. Three principal functions of a bill of lading in maritime transportation comprise receipt of carriage of good, reason for carriage contract, and title document. The majority of studies are about to realize the functions of carriage receipt and reason for carriage contract within substitution of electronic documents, such as replacement of paper bill of lading with an electronic bill of lading. While there is not the same conclusion about the function of the title document and this doubt on the result is beyond the replacement of paper documents with electronic documents caused by ambiguities in considering the bill of lading as a title document of goods and function of a bill of lading as a title document. In general, the transfer of a bill of lading does not mean the transfer of ownership while ownership is transferred through a contract of goods’ sale and bill of shading is considered as a document that indicates a property of goods to facilitate transactions within commercial operations.