Causal and Stipulatory Attributes of Bills of Lading under Korean Law

This study analyzes and evaluates the historical development of the rules on the causal and stipulatory attributes of bills of lading by examining former and current provisions under the Korean Commercial Code, case holdings and scholarly views. It finds, first, that unlike the legislative intention to revise the KCmC in 1991 and 2007, there have been long and continuing arguments on the effects of the issuance of bills of lading without receipt or shipment among scholars and case decisions. This is not only because the revised provisions do not directly deal with or clearly mention the scope of the application of both causal and stipulatory attributes, but the scholars have also interpreted them to either deny or admit the causal or stipulatory attributes. It argues that one should not deny in principle the causal attribute as an inherent nature of a bill of lading regardless of who holds it, whereas, as clearly stated in the KCmC, it is only limited in favor of the third party holder in good faith in order to enhance the negotiability of a bill of lading in practice. In addition, one should not distinguish the cases of aliud and deficiency in quantity from the case of non-receipt or shipment as a whole.