The forwarder?s rights and obligations in the trading contract of merchandises? transportation

• Author: Stanciu Cristina
• Position: Ph.D Lecturer
• Pages: 280-289

THE FORWARDER’S RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS IN THE TRADING

CONTRACT OF MERCHANDISES’ TRANSPORTATION

Ph.D Lecturer Cristina Stanciu

Abstract: The paper work regards the forwarder's rights and obligations in the trading

contract of merchandises' transportation, considering the fact that a lot of specialized works have

noticed and pointed out that human life is ruled directly on indirectly, by the contract. It represents

a juridical instrument through which the goods' circulation is realized without which the life of a

community is inconceivable

1

. Speaking of the importance of goods circulation and of the contract's

importance within society, we may state that the transportation contract is important and useful for

the ordinary human life.

Key words: Contract of merchandises transportation, forwarder's rights

Preliminaries. A lot of specialized works have noticed and pointed out that human life is

ruled directly on indirectly, by the contract. It represents a juridical instrument through which the

goods' circulation is realized without which the life of a community is inconceivable

2

. Speaking of

the importance of goods circulation and of the contract's importance within society, we may state

that the transportation contract is important and useful for the ordinary human life.

It has a complex juridical physiognomy and, to explain it, we have to sketch some essential

elements: the contract' sides, namely the professional carter and the forwarder, the sides' obligations

namely: an execution term for the transportation, an adequate transportation mean, an itinerary to be

travelled, the recipient, who is not a side of the contract, but is its beneficiary; sometimes, he may

even be subject to obligations.

So, the transportation contract is a convention

3

between the professional carter and the

forwarder, convention through which the carter obliges himself, in exchange of a remuneration, to

transport, with an adequate transportation mean, and in a certain lapse of time, persons or

merchandises. For the case of merchandise transportation, the carter obliges himself to handle the

goods, at the arrival point, in the recipient's custody.

Art. 3 item 13 Trading Code frames as a trading deed the "transportation enterprises, for

persons or things, on water or on dry land". So, the transportation pertains to trading and is carried

out under the "enterprise" form, by this meaning an activity that follows certain rules

4

and under a

professional title. The feature of being professional is essential in defining the transportation

activity and for the transporter

5

.

But the transportation contract might be also a civil one, when transportation is for free or

when it is occasional, even remunerated, under the condition, for the latter case, to be performed,

randomly, by a non-trader.

The effects of the transportation contract are represented by the totality of rights and

obligations issued from the respective contract

6

. They are owned by the sides (the forwarder and

the carter) but also by a third side, the recipient, who is not a side of the contract. As we have

precised, the transportation contract is regarded as an exception from the principle of effects'

relativity for the juridical civil act. It is necessary, in order to point them out, to analyze the rights

and obligations issued from the transportation contract, following the execution stages of this type

1

I. Dogaru (coordinator), Drept civil. Contractele speciale, Editura All Beck, Bucureşti, 2004, p. 1-3.

2

I. Dogaru (coordinator), Drept civil. Contractele speciale, Editura All Beck, Bucureşti, 2004, p. 1-3.

3

See the analysis of the concepts of contract and convention from I. Dogaru (coordinator), Dr ept civil. Contractele

speciale, Editura All Beck, Bucureşti, 2004, p. 1-2

4

Şt. Scurtu, Contracte de transport de mărfuri în trafic intern şi internaţional, Ed. Themis, Craiova, 2001, p. 7-8.

5

The le gal ground which sustains the professional title necesary for exerting the transportation activity is also assured

by arts. 1476 et 1477 Civil Code

6

Gh. Piperea, Dreptul transporturilor, Ed. All Beck, Buc ureşti, 2003, p. 33.