Evolution of the bill of lading

Abstract

It is not known when bills of lading were first used, although records of cargoes being placed on board ocean-crossing vessels have probably existed for well over a thousand years. Whereas no formal sea code has existed from Greek or Roman times, maritime law grew from the customs and practice of the early seafaring traders. The requirement that every master must take on board a clerk is mentioned in The Ordonnance Maritime of Trani (an Italian town) of 1063, and refers to the ship’s book or register. This is one of the earliest references to the keeping of records of goods loaded on board ships. The French writer Desjardins in his Droit Commercial Maritime says that in a document of 1255, Le Fuero Real, it is said that the owners of ships should ‘cause to be enrolled in the register all the articles put on board ships, giving their nature and quantity’.