The Evolution of the Limitation of Liability of Maritime Carriers until the Rotterdam Rules

Abstract

The second building element of the particular structure of the carrier’s liability is the numerical limitation of the extent of indemnity. The main rule of the obligation of indemnity is that the person obliged to indemnity shall put the damaged person in a situation as if the latter had not suffered any damage. But in the scope of carriage of goods – by reason of the points of view of the equitable distribution of risks – there is no regulation either nationally or internationally that would oblige the carrier to pay compensation for the whole damage. The cause of it is first of all that the value of the freight on the one hand and of the property means affected by risk on the other hand compared to each other excludes the possibility to cover the funds of the whole damage. Thus the carrier’s risk shall be manageable and be able to find the sources: the amount of indemnity must not be unrealistically high in case of damage to the goods or of delay in delivery of the goods. The rules of the sector of transport specify the maximum extent numerically that means the upper limit of the carrier’s liability for indemnity. This can be overwritten only by an intentional or seriously negligent conduct of the carrier: in such case, he is obliged to pay compensation for the whole damage. In my present study, I have put the concept of the limitation of the maritime carrier’s liability in the focus of the analytical and comparative research. I wished to outline the evolution that – through several stages, conflicts of interests and compromises – has led after all to the point where the conventions of maritime transport law which are parallelly applicable provide nowadays an adequate legal background to the daily practice with regard to their basic provisions, in respect of the numerical limitation of liability for damage. Perhaps that factor can also be seen on the basis of the trends of regulation of the conventions of the maritime and the mainland subsectors that the intensive international legislation has brought the maritime transport law close to the institutional world of traditional regulations (rail, road and air regulations), also in respect of the numerical limitation of the carrier’s liability for damage.