“Our object was to give to the sea, which is the natural tie between the nations, the benefit of a uniform law, which will be rational, deliberated, equitable in its inception and practical in its text. We have considered that in our work, the shipowner, the merchant, the underwriter, the average adjuster, the banker, the parties directly interested should have the leading part: that the task of the lawyer was to discern what in this maritime community was the general feeling, which, among these divergent interests, is common to all; to discern also which of the various solutions is the best; to contribute to the common work his science and his experience, but that ultimately the lawyer should hold the pen and that the man of practice should dictate the solutions.”

The article is devoted to establishing the legal nature of the freight forwarding contract. For this purpose, the author analyses the economic nature of the said contract, its subject matter and liability for its breach. In addition, the article provides foreign experience of regulation of the said institute in the legal orders of England, Germany and France. The author compares some aspects of the legal concept of the freight forwarding in Russia and in the legal orders mentioned above. The conclusion of the study is that the freight forwarding contract in the Russian law is formulated not based on the subject matter of the contract but based on its object. The result of this approach is that a rather large number of binding relations may be covered by the definition of the freight forwarding. This, in turn, may lead to adverse consequences for the legal order and civil turnover since, under Russian law, the freight forwarder’s liability is limited.