46 U.S.C. § 30702
Section 30702 · Application
This is the Harter Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Sompo Japan Insurance Co. of America v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (2014)
Most recently applied in Amazon Produce Network, LLC v. Nyk Line (September 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) In General.—Except as otherwise provided, this chapter applies to a carrier engaged in the carriage of goods to or from any port in the United States.
(b) Live Animals.—Sections 30703 and 30704 of this title do not apply to the carriage of live animals.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 30702(a) (no source). 30702(b) 46 App.:195. Feb. 13, 1893, ch. 105, §7, 27 Stat. 446. Subsection (a) is added based on language appearing in various source provisions restated in this chapter. The word “carriage” is substituted for “transporting”, and the word “goods” is substituted for “merchandise or property”, to use the same terminology as in the Carriage of Goods By Sea Act (Apr. 16, 1936, ch. 229, 49 Stat. 1207). The words “to or from any port in the United States” are substituted for “from or between ports of the United States and foreign ports” in 46 App. U.S.C. 190 and 193, “from or between ports of the United States of America and foreign ports” in 46 App. U.S.C. 191, and “to or from any port in the United States of America” in 46 App. U.S.C. 192, for clarity and consistency. See Knott v. Botany Mills, 179 U.S. 69 (1900).