2.2 The scope of national legislation implementing the Hague-Visby Rules
The Hague-Visby Rules have no force of law unless implemented into national law by the state parties to the convention,(1) We do not here contemplate a mere contractual reference to the Rules themselves, through charterparty Paramount clauses, or similar. and the above considerations concerning the nature of the scope provision of the Rules, would apply correspondingly to the scope provision in national legislation implementing the Rules.
In the Nordic Maritime Codes – prior to their revision in 1994 – the Hague-Visby Rules were essentially adopted with the scope of application of the Codes aligned to that of the Hague-Visby Rules Article 10. However, there was also a need to regulate the situation where a bill of lading referred to the laws of another Hague-Visby state than that in which a dispute arose (the law of the forum). Therefore, the Maritime Codes at the time contained a provision to the effect that if a bill of lading referred to the laws of another Hague-Visby state, then such law would apply.(2) Norwegian Maritime Code 1893 Section 169 with identical provision in the other Nordic Codes.
This latter provision could well be seen as a choice of law provision, but it is nevertheless of a ‘quasi choice’ nature, since it all the time operates within the mandatory substantive scope of the Hague-Visby, as implemented in national law.