Define the bill of lading as understood in the international instruments.

The bill of lading (B/L) — the sea carriage's master document: issued by the carrier on shipment, signed, covering the named goods. The instruments' definitions: The Hague Rules 1924 (Art. 1): the "contract of carriage" defined through the bill of lading or any similar document of title — the coverage by document; the regime the elder shipping nations' practice built; The Hague-Visby Rules 1968: the Hague text carried forward (the limits raised, the container clause added) — the B/L as the regime's gateway; The Hamburg Rules 1978 (the UN Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea, in force 1992) — the syllabus's particular reference: Art. 1(7) defines the bill of lading — the document evidencing the contract and the taking over or loading of the goods by the carrier, by which the carrier undertakes to deliver the goods against surrender of the document; the rules' coverage extends beyond the B/L to the non-negotiable documents (the sea waybill) — the modernisation's face; The Rotterdam Rules 2008 (unratified): the "transport document" (negotiable and non- negotiable) and the ELECTRONIC record — the paperless future's design. The definitions' evolution (the paragraph the examiner rewards): from the B/L-as-contract (Hague) through the B/L-as-document-family (Hamburg) to the record-regardless-of-medium (Rotterdam) — the document following the trade's technology.