Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 51.djvu/276

This page needs to be proofread.

MULTILATERAL-BILLS OF LADING-AUGUST 25, 1924 10. Section 4, subsection (5) of the Act contains a sentence in the second paragraph which is not in the Convention to the effect that in no case shall the carrier be liable for more than the amount of damage actually sustained. The sentence is underlined' in the following quotation from the Act: "SEC. 4 .. .. "(5) "By agreement between the carrier, master, or agent of the carrier, and the shipper another maximum amount than that mentioned in this paragraph may be fixed: Provided, That such maximum shall not be less than the figure above named. In no event shall the carrierbe liablefor more than the amount of damage actually sustained." 11. Section 4, subsection (5) last paragraph of the Act contains the phrases "the transportation of the" before "goods" and the words "and fraudulently" after "knowingly", which do not appear in the Convention. This paragraph of the Act, the expressions mentioned being underlined,' reads as follows: '"SEC. 4. .. . "(5)... "Neither the carrier nor the ship shall be responsible in any event for loss or damage to or in connection with the transportationof the goods if the nature or value thereof has been knowingly and fraudu- lently misstated by the shipper in the bill of lading." 12. In Section 8 of the Act reservations are made saving from the operation of the Act the provisions relating to the liability of the owners of seagoing vessels in certain Acts of the Congress of the United States,-namely the Shipping Act of 1916 and sections 4281 to 4289 inclusive of the Revised Statutes of the United States or any amendments thereof,-all of which this Government considers to be within the scope of the reservation in Article 8 of the Convention. TITLE II The provisions of Title II of the Act may be regarded as supple- mentary to the provisions of Title I, which, with the enacting clause taking the place of Article 10, correspond to the first ten articles of the Convention. The provisions of sections 9, 11 and 12 in Title II of the Act are designed primarily to make clear that the provisions of Title I shall not be construed to affect certain features of American law and prac- tice. Section 9 provides that a common carrier by water may not discriminate between competing shippers similarly placed in time and circumstance; section 11 provides that where under the customs of any trade the weight of any bulk cargo inserted in a bill of lading was ascertained or accepted by a third party other than the carrier or the shipper, and that fact is stated in the bill of lading, the bill of lading shall not be deemed to be prima facie evidence against the i Italicized. 23918°-3 8-18 273