123 Ga. 378 | Ga. | 1905
(After stating the facts.) 1. The right of the railroad company to collect its transportation charges is dependent upon whether the person who started the shipment of the mare from Columbus to Yaldosta had authority to direct such shipment. It is contended that Leonard Johnson, who was in charge of the mare when it left Rochester, New York, was clothed by the consignor with apparent authority to direct this shipment from Columbus to Yaldosta. The bill of lading which the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company issued to Foster stated that there was a man in charge of the “horse.”
2. The plaintiff in error further contends that the judgment of the court is erroneous, for the reason that the evidence disclosed that the plaintiff had an adequate and complete remedy at law by an action of trover. If the defendant desired to avail itself of the objection that the owner had gone into a court of equity and invoked the aid of that court, when his remedy at law was complete, it should have done so by appropriate demurrer. It can not submit the determination of the case to a court of equity, and, after an adverse judgment, for the first time raise the point that the plaintiff has not pursued the proper remedy. The only prayer in the petition was for injunction. The only issue submitted to the court by the pleadings was whether, under the facts, the plaintiff was entitled to relief by injunction. The failure of the railroád company to demur at the proper time, and the trial of the case by the judge without a jury, amounted to a consent that the issue made by the pleadings should be determined in that manner; and it is now too late, after the case has been decided, to raise the question that the plaintiff’s legal remedy was ample, and that there was therefore no necessity to invoke the extraordinary powers of a court of equity. See Hay v. Collins, 118 Ga. 247-8.
Judgment affirmed.