The Legal Effects of Unjustified Deviation on the Liability of Carrier of Goods; A Comparative Study in the Legal Systems of Iran, England and the Rotterdam Convention 2009

Due to the importance of the carriage of goods through proper route and the effects of deviation, this article tries to trace the effects of unjustified deviation from the route on the validity of shipping documents, the liability of the carrier to compensate damages and the carrier’s right to invoke the contractual and legal defenses and limitations of liability. In the English legal system, no-deviation is an implied terms, in case of its breach the cargo owner can approve or repudiate the contract of carriage. In case of repudiation, the carrier is strictly liable for compensating the damages and has no right to invoke the contractual and legal defenses and limitations of liability. In contrast, in the Iranian legal system, which is based on the Hague Rules, due to the lack of explicit legal provisions prohibiting deviation, it can be argued that in accordance with the Rotterdam Convention, if the deviation is unreasonable, the carriage contract remains valid and in addition to the obligation to compensate the damages, the carrier has the right to invoke the exceptions and limitations of liability contained in the contract, the law and the Hague rules.