Paul Bugden’s Freight Forwarding and Goods in Transit first appeared in 1999. There is now a second edition, co-written by Simone Lamont-Black, with the abbreviated title of Goods in Transit. The authors’ stated aim is to provide an in-depth treatment of the entire common law relevant to carriers and freight intermediaries along with all the various Convention carriage regimes and with particular emphasis on the multimodal and agency aspects of transactions. The book seeks to integrate the relevant Convention carriage regimes and specialist common law into their proper place within the general law of contract, agency and tort. The new edition covers the Rotterdam Rules, includes a new chapter on project and heavy lift forwarding, covers contract and agency law in more detail and contains completely revised chapters on areas such as damages, restitution and bailment, which have undergone major developments since the first edition.

The book is divided into five parts. Part One (“Introductory”) starts with an analysis of an issue of fundamental importance in freight forwarding—the nature of the forwarder’s contract, whether it is a contract of carriage or a contract to arrange carriage. This is then followed by two chapters on agency, again an important topic in carriage of goods, and particularly so with freight forwarding. Part Two (“Proprietary and Other Interests in Goods”) analyses the basic concepts of ownership, possession and risk before moving on to a consideration of the types of document to be found in contracts for the carriage of goods, and concludes by examining the nature and effect of the estoppel that is created by statements in such documents. Part Three (“The Causes of Action”) starts with contract before moving on to misrepresentation and deceit, bailment, tort, restitution, assignment and damages. Part Four (“Carriage”) begins with the common law classification of carriers before moving on to their treatment under the various international transport Conventions. The liability regimes for carriers under these Conventions are then considered in detail. Part Five (“Particular Rights, Duties and Obligations”) covers topics such as containers, limitation of liability, time bar, liens, liabilities of the merchant, and repudiation of contract.

The book ends with voluminous appendices, which include a wide selection of trade forms from all modes of transport, such as the latest RHA 2009 terms, as well as the text of all International