A contract of affreightment is a contract with a ship-owner to hire his ship, or part of it, for the carriage of goods. Such a contract generally takes the form either of a charter-party or of a bill of lading. Maude & P. Mer. Shipp. 227; Smith, Merc. Law, 295; Bramble v. Culmer, 78 Fed. 501, 24 C. C. A. 182; Auten v. Bennett, 88 App. Div. 15, 84 N. Y. Supp. 689. In French law, freighting and affreighting are distinguished. The owner of a ship freights it, (le frete;) he is called the freighter, (frcteur;) he is the letter or lessor, (locateur, locator.) The merchant affreights (af- frete) the ship, and is called the affreighter, (affretcur;) he is the hirer, (locataire, conductor.) Emerig. Tr. des Ass. c. 11,