Construing Bills of lading

Caresse Navigation Ltd v Office National de l’Electricité and Others [2013] EWHC 3081 (Comm) CA TLR 4 December

General rules which applied to the construction of contracts also applied to the construction of a bill of lading, the words of which were to be considered as a whole in their context. Taking that approach, a clause in the printed conditions of carriage in a bill of lading which expressly incorporated “all terms and conditions, liberties and exceptions of the charterparty . . . including the law and arbitration clause” was effective to incorporate into the bill an English law and exclusive jurisdiction clause in the charterparty.