3.2 Transport Documents and Bill of Lading: Legal Character, Use andImportance

The transport documents' family: the bill of lading (the sea); the air waybill (the air); the consignment note (the road-rail); the multimodal transport document (the combined). The bill oflading's three characters (the exam's core):1. The receipt — the goods' shipment evidence (the quantity-and-condition's notation; the clean-vs-clause B/L).2. The evidence of the contract — the carriage's terms (the contract's memorandum — the estoppel's operation against the issuer).3. The document of title — the goods' symbolic possession (the transfer's passing; the endorsement's negotiation — the buyer's-and-bank's security; the delivery's surrender duty). The importance: the trade's paper backbone (the documentary credit's foundation — Unit 4); the financing's collateral; the delivery's control. The electronic B/L — the paperless revolution (the blockchain's experiments — Unit 8's link).