Incorporation of Arbitration Clauses under a Charterparty and a Bill of Lading: English and Chinese Law Perspectives

Abstract: In commercial maritime law, "the contract of affreightment" and "marine insurance" may be the most important and difficult subjects. As far as the contract of affreightment is concerned, the difficulites derive from the existence of two entirely different forms of contracts, a charterparty and a bill of lading. In order to explore commercial maritime law, one key question is to research the interrelationship between the charterparty and the bill of lading. The object of this thesis is to examine the interrelationship between a charterparty and a bill of lading under the contract of affreightment, particularly, the incorporation of the arbitration clause under the charterparty and the bill of lading, because the charterparty is linked with the bill through incorporation clauses.