commonly marked _original_, is given to the drayman. In
making ordinary shipments it is not usual or necessary to make out a
formal bill of lading. Of course, when no bill of lading is made out,
the receipt should be preserved by the shipper. The full contract is
usually printed on the receipt, but it must be remembered that a
receipt is not a negotiable instrument and cannot be used as security
for money.

[Illustration: A shipping receipt (original).]

A BILL OF LADING is an acknowledgment by a transportation company of
the receipt of goods specified, and contracts for their delivery at a
certain place, under conditions stated thereon, upon payment of
freight and expenses. Bills of lading are negotiable and maybe
transferred by indorsement, but are of no value apart from the goods
to which they give title. A bill of lading goes with certain _named_
goods and cannot be transferred to other goods, even though of
precisely the same kind and price. Marine bills of lading are usually
made in triplicate; one is kept by the shipper, another by the
vessel, and the third is sent by mail to the person to receive the
goods.

[Illustration: A steamship bill of lading.]

The parties to a bill of lading are three--the shipper, the consignee,
and the transportation company. The declaration of having received the
goods in good order and condition, and the consequent obligation,
subsequently expressed, of delivering them in like good order and
condition, is sensibly lessened in its importance by the additional
clause now adopted by almost all transportation companies--namely:
"Contents and condition of contents of packages unknown." Should the
goods or part of them be shipped in a damaged condition, or in a bad
condition of packing, a note to that effect should be made by the
transportation company on the bill of lading, which ceases then to be
a _clean bill of lading_.

[Illustration: A local waybill.]

Like any other instrument of credit, a bill of lading may be deposited
with a creditor as security for money advanced (or it may be
transferred to a buyer) by means of indorsement, and the property or
goods will be thereby either mortgaged or assigned. Acting upon this
principle, the shipper declares in the bill of lading that the goods
shall be delivered unto the consignee or his assigns. When a shipper
is unable to insert the name of the consignee at the time the bill of
lading is made out, a _bill to order_ is drawn up wher