''Grant v Norway'' (1851) is a case on the Law of Carriage of Goods by Sea; but since 1992 it has no longer been good law. This was an action upon the case by the indorsees of a bill of lading, against the owners of a vessel, to recover the amount of advances made by the former upon the bills of lading, the goods never having in fact been shipped. The

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

held that a statement in a

bill of lading A bill of lading () (sometimes abbreviated as B/L or BOL) is a document issued by a carrier (or their agent) to acknowledge receipt of cargo for shipment. Although the term historically related only to carriage by sea, a bill of lading may toda ...

that goods have been shipped is of only ''

prima facie ''Prima facie'' (; ) is a Latin expression meaning ''at first sight'' or ''based on first impression''. The literal translation would be 'at first face' or 'at first appearance', from the feminine forms of ''primus'' ('first') and ''facies'' (' ...

'' evidential value, and its terms may be rebutted by evidence to the contrary. The justification for the case was that a carrier should not suffer liability if (as was not uncommon at the time) the ship's master had fraudulently colluded with a dishonest shipper and had issued a bill declaring untruthfully that goods had been loaded. (The master would normally be both an employee and an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

of the carrier, but would (in both roles) be acting in breach of the legal fiduciary duty to his employer/principal). The Hague-Visby Rules continued with this view, with Article III (4) stating:

"Such a bill of lading shall be ''prima facie'' evidence of the receipt by the carrier of the goods as therein described in accordance with paragraph 3 (a), (b) and (c). However, proof to the contrary shall not be admissible when the bill of lading has been transferred to a third party acting in good faith."

Although the UK has adopted the Hague-Visby Rules, for the purposes of

English Law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, b ...

a bill of lading is now deemed to be conclusive (not merely ''prima facie'') evidence of receipt as a result of section 4 of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992. The reason for the change is that the

Law Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

deemed that, if international confidence were to be maintained, it was crucial that a bill of lading should be relied upon as a conclusive statement of fact. Swar

/ref> It follows that the main rule ''Grant v Norway'' has been rendered void by the 1992 Act.

Notes

International trade law * International law {{italic title

See also

Notes