§80104 — Title 49 Transportation | U.S. Code

Summary

You can pass a negotiable bill of lading to someone else by signing it or by handing it over when the bill allows that. If the bill names a person to receive the goods, that person must sign it to transfer it. Also, anyone who holds the bill can transfer it if the carrier promises to deliver to that holder or if the bill is in a form that lets it be transferred by delivery. A transfer stays valid even if the person who transferred it broke a rule or the owner lost the bill by fraud, theft, mistake, or accident—so long as the new holder paid value, acted honestly, and did not know about the problem. If someone sold or used the goods as collateral but kept the bill, a later transfer to a buyer who pays, acts honestly, and didn’t know about the earlier sale or pledge works the same as if the first buyer had approved it.

Title 49, §80104

Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)A negotiable bill of lading may be negotiated by indorsement. An indorsement may be made in blank or to a specified person. If the goods are deliverable to the order of a specified person, then the bill must be indorsed by that person.

(2)A negotiable bill of lading may be negotiated by delivery when the common carrier, under the terms of the bill, undertakes to deliver the goods to the order of a specified person and that person or a subsequent indorsee has indorsed the bill in blank.

(3)A negotiable bill of lading may be negotiated by a person possessing the bill, regardless of the way in which the person got possession, if—

(A)a common carrier, under the terms of the bill, undertakes to deliver the goods to that person; or

(B)when the bill is negotiated, it is in a form that allows it to be negotiated by delivery.

(b)The validity of a negotiation of a bill of lading is not affected by the negotiation having been a breach of duty by the person making the negotiation, or by the owner of the bill having been deprived of possession by fraud, accident, mistake, duress, loss, theft, or conversion, if the person to whom the bill is negotiated, or a person to whom the bill is subsequently negotiated, gives value for the bill in good faith and without notice of the breach of duty, fraud, accident, mistake, duress, loss, theft, or conversion.

(c)When goods for which a negotiable bill of lading has been issued are in a common carrier’s possession, and the person to whom the bill has been issued retains possession of the bill after selling, mortgaging, or pledging the goods or bill, the subsequent negotiation of the bill by that person to another person receiving the bill for value, in good faith, and without notice of the prior sale, mortgage, or pledge has the same effect as if the first purchaser of the goods or bill had expressly authorized the subsequent negotiation.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 80104(a)(1)49 App.:108.Aug. 29, 1916, ch. 415, §§ 27, 28, 30, 37, 38, 39 Stat. 542, 543, 544. 80104(a)(2)49 App.:107. 80104(a)(3)49 App.:110. 80104(b)49 App.:117. 80104(c)49 App.:118. In subsection (a)(1), the words “If the goods are deliverable to the order of a specified person” are substituted for “the person to whose order the goods are deliverable by the tenor of the bill” for clarity. The text of 49 App.:108 (last sentence) is omitted as unnecessary because of the restatement.

§80104 Form and requirements for negotiation

Summary

Title 49, §80104

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Citations & Metadata