BILLS OF LADING. COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, April 13, 1916. The committee this day met, Hon. William C. Adamson (chairman), presiding. (The bill under consideration (S. 19) is as follows:) AN ACT relating to bills of lading in interstate and foreign commerce. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, That bills of lading issued by any common carrier for the transportation of goods in any Territory of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or from a place in a State to a place in a foreign country, or from a place in one State to a place in another State, or from a place in one State to a place in the same State through another State or foreign country, shall be governed by this Act. SEC. 2. That a bill in which it is stated that the goods are consigned or destined to a specified person is a straight bill. SEC. 3. That a bill in which it is stated that the goods are consigned or destined to the order of any person named in such bill is an order bill. Any provision in such a bill or in any notice, contract, rule regulation, or tariff that it is nonnegotiable shall be null and void and shall not affect is negotiability within the meaning of this Act. SEC. 4. That order bills issued in a State for the transportation of goods to any place in the United States on the Continent of North America, except Alaska and Panama, shall not be issued in parts or sets. If so issued, the carrier issuing them shall be liable for failure to deliver the goods described therein to anyone who purchases a part for value in good faith, even though the purchase be after the delivery of the goods by the carrier to a holder of one of the other parts: Provided, however, That nothing contained in this section shall be interpreted or construed to forbid the issuing of order bills in parts or sets for such transportation of goods to Alaska, Panama, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, or foreign countries, or to impose the liabilities set forth in this section for so doing. SEC. 5. That when more than one order bill is issued in a State for the same goods to be transported to any place in the United States on the Coninent of North America, except Alaska and Panama, the word "duplicate," or some oher word or words indicating that the document is not an original bill, shall be placed plainly upon the face of every such bill except the one first issued. A carrier shall be liable for the damage caused by his failure so to do to anyone who has purchased the bill for value in good faith as an original, even though the purchase be after the delivery of the goods by the carrier to the holder of the original bill: Provided, however, That nothing contained in this section shall in such case for such transportation of goods to Alaska, Panama, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, or foreign countries be interpreted or construed so as to require the placing of the word "duplicate" thereon, or to impose the liabilities set forth in this section for failure so to do. SEC. 6. That a straight bill shall have placed plainly upon its face by the carrier issuing it "nonnegotiable" or "not negotiable.' This section shall not apply, however, to memoranda or acknowledgments of an informal character. 3 |