1 INTRODUCTION

It would be very difficult to understand the format of the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law Relating to Bills of Lading, 1924 without the knowledge of its origin.1 Although it would be out of place to trace the history of the Hague Rules 19212 on which this Convention is based, it is thought that in order to understand the spirit with which they have been considered by the Comité Maritime International (CMI) the following introductory paragraph of the Report of the Commission appointed by the Conférence Internationale de Droit Maritime convened by the Belgian government in October 19223 may be of assistance: