Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Delivery definition

What does Delivery mean? Delivery, in practice, is the seller handing over possession or control of goods to the buyer or the buyer’s agent at the agreed time and place. In the UK and Ireland it is defined in statute as the voluntary transfer of possession from one person to another (sale of goods Act 1979, s 61(1); Sale of Goods Act (Northern Ireland) 1979; Sale of Goods Act 1893 (Ireland), as amended). Delivery concerns possession and is distinct from the passing of property (title). Key features include actual delivery, constructive delivery (for example, to a carrier or by attornment), and symbolic...

Bills of lading and sea waybills: delivery requirements, negotiability, CGSA 1992 rights, and letters of indemnity under UK law

Published by a LexisNexis Commercial expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note outlines the purpose and functions of sea carriage documents in relation to the Delivery of cargo, with particular attention to bills of lading and sea waybills. It explains that a Bill of lading may be issued as a charterers’ bill or an owner’s bill, and that such documents operate both as evidence of the contract of carriage and as security for finance.

Sea carriage documents

A sea carriage document is produced to obtain release of goods, either at the port of discharge or at the nominated place of delivery, depending on the form issued by the Carrier to the shipper. That document will be either:

a bill of lading
a sea waybill

For more detail on bills of lading and sea waybills, see the Practice Note: Bills of lading and sea waybills.

Bill of lading

A bill of lading may be:

bearer bill of lading:
- goods covered by this form are deliverable only to the person who holds and presents an original
order/negotiable/transferable bill of lading:
- this form is made out ‘to order’. The carrier undertakes to deliver the cargo

...

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Quentin Tannock

4 Pump Court

Quentin Tannock has a commercial practice with a strong focus on advocacy. Quentin acts and advises on a broad spectrum of disputes across a range of industry sectors, for example, including insurance, financial services and professional negligence. While his practice has a focus on high value disputes, Quentin's clients range in size from the Fortune 100 through to SMEs. Quentin's background is in law and business, including commercial arbitration, venture capital investments and the provision of IP related strategy and policy advice to multinational corporations and international organisations. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge and gave a series of lectures on IP and business to science master’s students at the University of Cambridge....

James Watthey

4 Pump Court

James is an experienced commercial barrister handling heavyweight international arbitration and litigation. James focuses on charterparty disputes, cargo claims, sale and purchase, shipbuilding disputes, international trade and marine insurance. In addition to LMAA, LCIA, SIAC, ICC and other institutional and ad hoc arbitrations all around the world, he also frequently handles disputes in the Commercial Court and the Admiralty Court, as well as other divisions of the High Court. He has particular experience of international actions involving jurisdictional disputes. James also has experience in mediation and as an Arbitrator and expert in English law in foreign proceedings. His arbitration practice includes both substantive proceedings and challenges under the Arbitration Act 1996, on grounds such as want of jurisdiction, apparent bias, serious irregularity and errors of law. More recently, he has handled a lot more commodities and energy related shipping disputes. He also works on...

Aphiwan Natasha King

4 Pump Court

Natasha King is a barrister at 4 Pump Court. She is developing a broad practice across all of Chambers’ areas of expertise, including commercial litigation and international arbitration.Natasha has a first class degree in commerce from the University of Melbourne, a first class degree in law from the University of Cambridge, and a specialist LL.M. in international business and economic law from Georgetown University. She has won multiple academic awards and prizes, including the top scholarship awarded by Lincoln’s Inn for the bar course.Before coming to the Bar, Natasha served as a dispute settlement lawyer in the Legal Affairs Division of the World Trade Organization for three years, advising panelists on State-to-State disputes. She has written several publications on issues of international trade law, international investment law, and international commercial arbitration. She also writes for and assists on the editorial team of Opinio Juris, a...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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