Interesting B/L Facts
- The earliest known bills of lading are 6,000 years old preceding even the oldest major civilizations, i.e., Greeks and Romans. With such a long history, it is not surprising that bringing historical shipping processes into a Facebook world is a struggle. In 4,000 BC, tokens representing the quantity of the cargo were encased in clay and sealed with the marks of the shipper and the shipowner. In order to see the quantity shipped, the seal had to be broken and the tokens calculated. By 3,400 BC, tokens were being used to create an imprint on the outside of the clay envelopes, thereby enabling an intermediary buyer to ascertain how much cargo had been shipped without breaking the seal. The photographs below depict early bills of lading.
- “…it is safe to say that in the 11th century the bill of lading was unknown. It was at this time that trade between the ports of the Mediterranean began to grow significantly. Some record of the goods shipped was required, and the most natural way of meeting this need was by means of a ship's register, compiled by the ship's mate. Although use of such a register probably began informally, it was soon, in some ports at least, placed upon a statutory footing. Its accuracy was paramount and, around 1350, a “statute was enacted, which provided that if the register had been in the possession of anyone but the clerk, nothing that it contained should be believed, and that if the clerk stated false matters therein he should lose his right hand, be marked on the forehead with a branding iron, and all his goods be confiscated, whether the entry was made by him or by another”. Quoted from Bills of Lading (2006), Lord Justice Aikens, Richard Lord QC, Michael Bools.
- “The Spanish Fuero Real of 1255 refers to shipowners who should ‘cause to be enrolled in the register all the articles put on board ships, giving their nature and quality’. Mitchelhill suggests that the Fuero Real reference belongs to a transitional period between the time when merchants invariably travelled with their goods and the development of the actual receipt of carriage. During this transitional period, the oral evidence of the shipment was replaced by the ship’s register, which led eventually to the contract of affreightment between the shipper and the master of the vessel.” Quoted from Evolution and Present State of the Ocean Bill of Lading from a Banking Law Perspective, Boris Kozolchyk, JMLC, Vol. 23, No. 2, April 1992.
- There are a number of explanations for why three original B/Ls were issued in those early days:
“Of these bills of lading, there is commonly three bills of one tenor made of the whole ship’s lading… These bills of lading are commonly to be had in print in all places and several languages. One of them is enclosed in the letters written by the same ship, another is send overland to the factor or party to whom the goods are consigned, the third remaineth with the merchant, for his testimony against the master, if there were any occasion for loose dealing; but especially it is kept for to serve in case of loss, to recover the value of the goods of the assurors that have undertaken to bear the adventure with you.” Quoted from G. Malynes, Consuetudo vel Lex Mercatoria 97 (1629) (The Ancient Law Merchant). - INTERTANKO in its Practical Guide to Tanker Bills of Lading explains it as follows: “The well known schoolroom explanation of this ancient practice (of issuing multiple originals) was that the shipper, or those who dealt with him, would send the various originals by different routes to the destination port so that at least one of the bills would arrive before the ship did.” However, as INTERTANKO highlights, it is difficult to imagine anything more absurdly out of keeping with everything about modern commerce and communications.
