The story of pre-Harter Act carriage, leading to the Harter Act, and in turn to the Hague Rules, is so familiar to the practicing admiralty lawyer that it is only with great diffidence and reticence that one approaches it at all. It was first told in 1920 and has been repeated many times since then.Why tell it again? A relatively brief and rather elementary resumé might bring into sharper focus the great difference between the Harter Act-Hague Rules philosophy and the attitudes and philosophy which now are being advanced in certain areas. This review is not intended to be, and is not, a detailed and learned recitation of familiar history; it is no more than a cursory introduction to the current situation surrounding the Visby and Hamburg Rules.