The first thing is to be able to recall the three functions of BL. There is a mnenomic which is RED stands for Receipt, Evidence and Document of title which are three main functions of BL.

Then commnet needs to be made on each of those functions.

Receipt: BL contains quantity and condition of the goods, hence serves as a receipt of the goods received by vessel.

Evidence: For small consignment or in liner shipping the contract of carriage can be a mere phone call, therefore there is not written evidence. BL serves as the evidence of the contract and on the back of the BL it contains conditions of the carriage.

For bulk carriage typically there is a written charter party contract which is properly referred in the BL.

Document of Title: BL contains name of the owner of the goods, and serves as a legal document of title. The document is a negotiable instrument and ownership can be transferred through proper endorsement of the owner of the cargo.

For the second part of the question there may be one question out of three. Please click on each one to read.

1. Discharging without original BL
2. Issuing clean BL
3. Predated BL