Hague Rules

The Hague Rules are the 1924 International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading, the first international regime governing a sea carrier’s liability for cargo. Drafted by the CMI, they set the carrier’s duty to exercise due diligence to make the ship seaworthy and to care for the cargo, against a list of seventeen defenses in Article IV, including the contentious nautical-fault exception. They cap liability at 100 pounds sterling per package or unit. The Hague-Visby Rules amended them in 1968, and the Hamburg Rules offered a competing 1978 regime that shifted the balance toward cargo.