16.4 Carriage by Different Routes

(a) Carriage by Land The carrier and its types: the common carrier — one who holds himself out to carry for the public generally (the transporter, the courier network) — versus the private/special carrier (carrying only for particular customers by special agreement). Common carriers divide into general (all goods) and special (particular classes — hazardous, refrigerated); by mode: road transporters, couriers, freight forwarders. Rights, duties and liabilities of the common carrier: Duties: to carry (no unjust refusal of offered goods); to carry with reasonable dispatch; to take reasonable care (the near-insurer's liability short of the exceptions quartet); to deliver to the consignee against the documents; to follow the consignor's lawful routing instructions; Rights: the freight; a lien for freight and lawful charges; recovery of the expenses of refused/ undeliverable consignments; reasonable standard-bill terms; Liabilities: for loss, damage or delay in transit — narrowed by the exceptions quartet and, within limits, by lawful conditions (negligence's core usually non-excludable). Termination of the carrier's liability: on delivery to the consignee or his duly authorized agent — or into the agreed delivery channel; on the consignee's refusal or failure to take delivery (after notice, the carrier's storage-and-sale powers arise); liability does not survive beyond the agreed delivery point. Nepal's practice: the transporters' goods-freight notes (the bilty/lalpurja culture of the market routes), courier waybills, and…