Digitalization of Maritime Transport Documents : a study of the interplay of public rules and private norms amid social changes

The digitalization of maritime transport documents has became the chokepoint of promoting the automation level of the shipping industry. The lack of stable expectation is, among other things, the main reason that preventing international seaborne trade participants to apply digitalization solution. A harmonized legal framework worldwide would be the first step towards achieving stable expectation of applying electronic maritime transport documents. By employing the doctrinal method and the functional method of comparative law, the book draws a landscape of electronic law today and examined the effect of public international legislation. The empirical study suggests that actors across branches have developed workable standards towards the use of electronic documents by introducing compatible bylaws. The interactions between these private actors and their bylaws provide a possibility to achieve legal unification and self-evolvement of law on the global sphere. Deducting from the empirical results, the book proposes a private regulatory system as an alternative for achieving legal unification for the digitalization of maritime transport documents.