Article by Miranda Karali and Charles Smith
The House of Lords in Homburg Houtimport -v- Agrosin Private Limited & Ors "The Starsin" [2003] 2 WLR 711 overruled the Court of Appeal decision and in so doing, finally resolved a confused area of law relating to the situation where the wording in the signature box on the front of the bill of lading conflicts with standard identity of carrier and demise clauses on the back.
It is now common for demise clauses and identification of carrier clauses to be tucked away on the back of bills of lading in barely legible tiny print. This would not matter if they merely confirmed the details of the carrier indicated in the signature box or set out elsewhere on the front of the bill, but when there is conflicting information on the back of the bill, the identity of the carrier is far from certain.
