Definition
A package is a bundle, parcel, or container put up for transportation, commercial handling, or sale from hand to hand — something in a form suitable to become, as such, an article of commerce or delivery. The term is most legally significant in the context of shipping and carrier liability, where the definition of a single "package" determines the cap on damages a carrier owes for lost or damaged goods.
1. General commercial meaning. A package is any bundle or unit prepared for transport or delivery, including boxes, bales, crates, barrels, and similar receptacles. It implies outward form — something that presents itself as a discrete unit suitable for handling.
2. Carrier liability limitation context. In maritime and interstate shipping law, a "package" is a defined unit for purposes of limiting a carrier's liability per damaged or lost item. Courts have developed specific tests for what qualifies as a package, particularly under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), where the statutory per-package liability limit makes the definition outcome-determinative.
3. Historical customs and duties meaning. In old English law, "package" referred to certain duties charged in the Port of London on goods imported or exported by aliens. This meaning is archaic and abolished.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Something which is packed; a parcel, box, or envelope. Also used broadly for any bundle of components (a software package, a vacation package) and colloquially for unrelated meanings.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): A bundle made up for transportation; a packet, bale, or parcel. Also the act or process of packing, and a charge formerly levied in London on alien merchants.
The gap between common and legal meaning matters in one specific direction: common usage treats "package" broadly and intuitively — any container or bundle. Legal usage in the carrier liability context is far more technical. Courts scrutinize whether a container is truly a package within the meaning of a shipping contract or statute, and the result can mean the difference between a $500 cap and full recovery of hundreds of thousands of dollars. A researcher who imports the ordinary meaning into a COGSA analysis will miss decades of specialized doctrine.
Core Elements
In the carrier liability context, courts applying COGSA and analogous statutes have identified the following considerations in determining whether a shipping unit qualifies as a "package":
— Outward form. The item must present itself as a discrete, identifiable unit — not merely cargo occupying space. A bale of cotton, for instance, has been held not to constitute a package because its appearance gives no adequate information of its contents or value.
— Enumeration in the bill of lading. How the unit is described in the bill of lading is often dispositive. If the bill of lading lists "1 container" rather than enumerating the items inside, courts frequently treat the container — not the internal goods — as the package.
— Packaging by the shipper versus the carrier. Goods packed by the shipper into a container they own may be treated differently than goods stuffed into a carrier-supplied container.
— Adequacy of disclosure. In older express receipt cases, a package was defined against the backdrop of limitation clauses: the question was whether the item's appearance gave the carrier fair notice of value. A wagon-box in which paintings were packed for transport was held to constitute a package; an undifferentiated bale of raw material was not.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Original Package. A distinct legal concept in constitutional commerce clause doctrine, referring to a package of imported goods in its original, unbroken form. The original package doctrine determined when state taxing or regulatory authority attached to imported goods. Researchers should not conflate this with the carrier liability meaning of package.
COGSA Package. The specific meaning of package under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, carrying a per-package liability limit ($500 per package or customary freight unit under the original Act). This is the most heavily litigated sense of the term in modern law.
Software Package. Appears in regulatory and commercial contexts involving software licensing, procurement law, and technology contracts. Entirely distinct from the transportation meaning.
Why It Matters in Research
The term "package" is deceptively simple, and researchers working in shipping, admiralty, or transportation law must approach it as a term of art. Several traps arise:
First, the COGSA package limitation is one of the most litigated single issues in maritime cargo law. The question of what counts as a package — a container, a pallet, individual cartons inside a container — has produced inconsistent results across circuits. Researchers need to track not just statutory text but the specific circuit's test, as approaches have diverged meaningfully.
Second, historical sources define "package" almost entirely in the commercial-transportation sense without addressing the constitutional original-package doctrine or the COGSA context. A researcher relying solely on Bouvier or Black's for a COGSA brief will find the foundation but not the evolved doctrine.
Third, the damages stakes make precision essential. In cargo cases, whether ten cartons inside a single container count as ten packages or one package can shift liability by a factor of ten. Researchers should treat any source that defines "package" without specifying the contractual or statutory context as incomplete for litigation purposes.
Fourth, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act uses the term "package" in a regulatory sense (labeling, unit identification) that is independent of both the transportation and constitutional meanings. Cross-context contamination is a genuine research hazard here.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries agree on the core commercial definition and are largely interchangeable on the basics: a package is a bundle put up for transportation or commercial handling, with "parcel" understood as a smaller or diminutive form of the same concept. Black's (both editions) and Bouvier are consistent here, and both trace the definition to the same federal case (U.S. v. Goldback, 1 Hughes 529).
Anderson's contributes the most practically useful historical refinement: in the context of express receipt limitation clauses, the question was whether the item's appearance gave adequate notice of value. Anderson's notes the holding that a bale of cotton is not a package in this sense — a point confirmed by Bouvier's reference to Alabama authority — while a wagon-box containing paintings was treated as one.
None of the historical dictionaries address the COGSA package limitation doctrine, which postdates all of them. The constitutional original-package doctrine appears in Bouvier only as a cross-reference. Researchers should treat the historical dictionaries as providing the semantic foundation but not the doctrinal superstructure that governs modern litigation.
The abolished Port of London customs duty meaning appears in both Webster's 1913 and Bouvier. It has no modern application and can be disregarded except in historical research involving English trade law.
Jurisdictional Note
In U.S. federal maritime law, COGSA governs ocean bills of lading for foreign trade, and the package limitation is a federally controlled doctrine interpreted by federal courts. State law generally does not override COGSA's package limitation for covered shipments. For domestic surface carriers, the analogous Carmack Amendment uses different liability frameworks, and "package" analysis there follows its own body of case law.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
COGSA — Carrier Liability, Package Limitation, and the Fair Opportunity Doctrine (Law Mind Military, Veterans & Admiralty Law Encyclopedia)