Presentation Rule and Right to Claim Delivery of Goods under Bills of Lading and Similar Documents; A Comparative Study between Common Law, English Law and Iranian Law

Presentation rule is one of the general rules governing claim and delivery of the goods carried by sea. It means that the carrier shall deliver the goods solely against presentation of a transport document by the cargo claimant. The basis of presentation rule is to prevent deprivation of actual cargo-owner’s rights and to ensure the performance of contract as well as carrier’s immunity from unpredicted liabilities. The central analytical idea of this study is to describe in detail the necessity or non-necessity of application of presentation rule and its exemptions to carriage of goods by sea. Due to their different approaches to the subject matter depending on the type of transport document in question, the rules of Common law as well as English statutory provisions on carriage of goods by sea are examined. Presentation rule is not explicitly mentioned in Iran Maritime Code which is limited in scope comparing to the two other body of rules. Also, contrary to Common law and English law, the Maritime Code of Iran is relatively ambiguous towards the right to claim delivery of goods.