ABSTRACT
The topic of carriage of goods by sea under bills of lading has been the subject
of compulsory regulation, or proposed regulation, four times in the last 85 years.
The proposals are all associated with the names of cities in Northern Europe, in
geographical order starting and fi nishing with the Netherlands. They all involve
interference with freedom of contract in this area of commerce, that is to say,
contracts governed by bills of lading.1 The fi rst two, the Hague Rules,2 and the
Visby Protocol to them,i.e. the Hague-Visby Rules,3 have always been a major
topic of instruction at IMLI, and have strong associations with the CMI, which
has been a strong supporter of the Institute. Even though Professor David Attard,
to whom this book is dedicated, is a public international lawyer, and many of the
students lean in their present and likely future spheres of activity towards public
law, they need to know something about these important interferences with con-
tractual freedom, and the effect they may have on the acts of shipowners and
others involved in maritime transport. Hence some reference to the four sources
of regulation, or possible regulation, seems appropriate to this volume, despite the
huge amount that has been written on them since 1924.
