[22] In most contracts of carriage the carrier has greater bargaining power than the shipper, and in the 19th century English judges developed rules to protect the weaker parties.
[23] Beginning with the Hague Rules, the various conventions set out to codify and develop such common law principles by providing an international set of basic standards to be met by the carrier, with a view to establishing a universal framework of legal rights and duties.
In practice, however, the level of protection was actually reduced because of new provisions allowing the carrier to (i) limit his liability, and (ii) rely on a wide array of exemptions from liability [24][25][26] Also, whereas up until about 1885,[27] the carrier's duties were deemed to be strict, by 1905 the duty became one of "reasonable care" or "due diligence" only.
The Hague-Visby Rules both excluded cabotage carriage, and declared that deck cargo and live animals were not to be considered as "goods" (although the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 provided that cabotage, deck cargo and live animals are to be covered in English contracts).
The enormous list of exemptions to liability in Article IV made the Rules seem biased in favour of the carrier.