Straight bill of lading. This is defined in the United States Pomerene Bills of Lading Act 1916, section 2 of which states that such a bill of lading is “A bill in which it is stated that the goods are consigned to a specified person . . .“.
Section 6 of the Act requires that the bill is marked “Non negotiable” or “Not Negotiable” on its face. This brings it within the concept of a “Non negotiable receipt” or “sea waybill”. Section 29 provides that the indorsement of such a bill gives the transferee no additional rights. Under section 32 the transferee obtains the rights to the goods and the rights the carrier originally owed the shipper who obtained the bill. This means that the new holder can bring an action against the carrier and this is confirmed in section 22. This is similar to but more explicit than section 1 of the United Kingdom Bills of Lading Act 1855 .
There is an advantage in defining and controlling the general nature of a straight bill of lading by legislation. The straight bill is really a waybill but in other countries waybills are not controlled and this can lead to carriers or carriers’ organisations using their own forms of waybills, which give different obligations and rights to themselves.
