Virginia Code 8.7-304: Bills of lading in a set
(1) Except where customary in overseas transportation, a bill of lading must not be issued in a set of parts. The issuer is liable for damages caused by violation of this subsection.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 8.7-304
- Bailee: means the person who by a warehouse receipt, bill of lading or other document acknowledges possession of goods and contracts to deliver them. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
- Carrier: means a person that issues a bill of lading. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Document: means document of title as defined in the general definitions in Virginia Code 8.7-102
- Good faith: means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
- Goods: means all things that are treated as movable for the purposes of a contract of storage or transportation. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
- Issuer: means a bailee who issues a document except that in relation to an unaccepted delivery order it means the person who orders the possessor of goods to deliver. See Virginia Code 8.7-102
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
(2) Where a bill of lading is lawfully drawn in a set of parts, each of which is numbered and expressed to be valid only if the goods have not been delivered against any other part, the whole of the parts constitute one bill.
(3) Where a bill of lading is lawfully issued in a set of parts and different parts are negotiated to different persons, the title of the holder to whom the first due negotiation is made prevails as to both the document and the goods even though any later holder may have received the goods from the carrier in good faith and discharged the carrier’s obligation by surrender of his part.
(4) Any person who negotiates or transfers a single part of a bill of lading drawn in a set is liable to holders of that part as if it were the whole set.
(5) The bailee is obliged to deliver in accordance with part 4 of this title against the first presented part of a bill of lading lawfully drawn in a set. Such delivery discharges the bailee’s obligation on the whole bill.
1964, c. 219.