Abstract

Objectives: This research aims at studying the effect of the agreement of the parties of the contract of carriage of goods on exemption of the carrier from liability. It is known that the agreement of exemption of the carrier from liability is void. Methods: This research follows the descriptive-analytical method, whereby the researcher collects legal texts that regulate the contractual exemption from liability and then analyzes them to determine whether they comprehensively regulate the mentioned subject or not. Additionally, the researcher will rely on the comparative method in this study, comparing Omani law with international agreements and national laws to reach the desired conclusion Results: The study comes out with several results. The most important one is that Omani Legislator in the new Maritime Law prohibits the parties from agreeing on exemption of the carrier from liability in case of delay. Omani Legislator, in this position, disagrees with the international conventions and other national laws, i.e. Omani Law comes in a new rule in this issue that is not available neither in the international conventions nor in the internal laws. Conclusions: The research comes out with several recommendation. The prominent one is that the Omani Legislator should precisely specify the aspects that renders the contract void. This is because the rules, in this regard, are mandatory. Due to that, they should not be vague.