The carrier s cargo liability and its limitation under International Maritime Conventions

One of the most complex legal issues arises in the international maritime carriage of goods. The reason of this can be found in the variety of relations in the field and in the different nature of the sources of its legal regulation including the rules of the international conventions and domestic law. Furthermore, people have entered into the period of globalization and the gradual integration worldwide. This shows the importance of such kind of process in the international maritime law as unification of the legal regulation of the practice in the field which has more than a hundred year s history. In that sense, among the first ones was traditionally international sphere of merchant shipping and its central legal element such as the contract of international carriage of goods by sea. Its significance is supported by the fact that it is a legal ground for the cooperation of the shipper and the carrier as the parties in the transport of cargo which is the base for the economic use of the oceans and seas as a uniform transport route opened for all states in the world. A special place in the international maritime law belongs to the sea carrier's liability for the goods. It most clearly expresses the essence of the contract of carriage by sea and its importance. Moreover, the value of the carrier's cargo liability is in its major role to ensure accurate and precise fulfillment of mutual obligations of the parties in the transport of goods. The importance of this legal phenomenon is that it is the closest one to the legal practice because in almost any litigation or dispute we are faced with the question of liability. This statement is fully applicable to the practice of merchant shipping. The interaction between international and national legal regulation in the field of cargo liability of the sea carrier in the international maritime law reflects general relations and mutual influence that exists between international and domestic law as separate and at the same time close systems. One of the objectives of the issue of the carrier s cargo liability in the international and domestic maritime law is to bring the provisions of national law of the states to uniformity with the international legal framework. The limitation of the sea carrier s cargo liability is a universal principle that influences all legal elements in the international maritime law. One of the characteristics of the merchant shipping is the concentration of often significant property values on a single hull . Hereby, the limitation of the sea carrier s cargo liability made the insurance of maritime risks possible and its conditions reasonable for the shipowners which led to the development of the shipping business. Maritime transport of goods plays an important role in the world s economy. According to IMO more than 90% of global turnover is carried by maritime transport . Thus, large volumes of goods transported by sea as well as the risks and dangers at sea cause continuous discussions on the issues of the carrier s liability and its limitation in the international maritime transport of cargo. Safe carriage of goods is the main purpose of the contracts in the field. From the middle of the twentieth century one of the leading role in the unification of the international maritime law and preparation of the International Maritime Conventions belongs to the UN organizations such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) , the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) . Therefore, the analysis of the legal approach in the regulation of the carrier s liability and its limitation under International Maritime Conventions is particularly important. Nowadays there are several international legal regimes of the carrier s liability and its limitation in the international maritime transport of cargo with their own features and characteristics. Thus, the issue is relevant to be studied and analyzed in a complex and comprehensive way. For these purposes some questions in the field are of significant importance such as the nature of contract of the international carriage of goods by sea, the development and current state of the international legislation regulating the issue, main responsibilities of the carrier towards the cargo and the period of carrier s responsibility, the essence of the carrier's liability for the cargo and the development and current state of the legal phenomenon of the limitation of carrier s cargo liability. Hereby, the objective of the thesis is to examine the legal phenomenon of the carrier s liability and its limitation in the international maritime carriage of cargo under International Maritime Conventions. Different sources are used in the thesis including international treaties and national legislation, case law and judgments, books and articles, official publications and Internet resources. The main part of the thesis is structured in four chapters according to the main international maritime legal frameworks regulating the examined issue and including the concept of the limitation of the sea carrier s cargo liability. In the chapters the historical part, the analysis of the sources of law and their legal comparison are given, which are followed by the appropriate conclusions.