This book is intended for those whose practice involves maritime transport, charterparties and bills of lading. It seeks to explain how the law works in reality. In practice, the law is reflected in judicial decisions.

The book therefore describes maritime law relating to charterparties and bills of lading on the basis of judgments. With regard to bills of lading, it concerns mainly Dutch judgments. Many Dutch judgments have been rendered in this field over time. In a few cases, attention is also paid to English law, such as a few notable judgments of the House of Lords/Supreme Court. The situation with regard to charterparties is completely different. Book 8 Civil Code contains only a few provisions specifically written for charters, and there are few judicial and arbitral decisions in this area. One cannot describe Dutch charterparty law using only Book 8 and Dutch judgments. English law, on the other hand, contains very many judgments on charterparties. Moreover, English law can be considered leading in the maritime field. This book therefore describes charterparty law mainly by means of English judgments. It sometimes indicates why a Dutch court is expected to rule differently from the English courts in a particular case.