48 Ala. 585 | Ala. | 1872
It is now too well settled in this State to admit of question, that railroad companies are common carriers, and as such, that they are amenable to the liabilities imposed by the law applicable to common carriers, as the same is administered in this State.—Selma & Meridian R. R. Co. v. Butts & Foster, 43 Ala. R. 385; Jeremy’s Law of Carriers, 4, chap. 1; Redf. on Car. p. 27, chap. 3, § 37, and the numerous authorities cited in the notes. There is no question made in this .court as to the place of making the contract of transportation, or undertaking the duty to transport. The proceeding will, then, be treated as a transaction governed by the common law applicable to common carriers. The suit here is against the corporation only as a common carrier, and not as a warehouse keeper or a common bailee of goods and chattels delivered, to be kept safely for shipment. And the dominant question in the case is, when does the liability of the railroad company for transportation of goods and other articles to be carried on this road begin? Certainly, just where that of any other common carrier’s liability would begin; that is, as soon as the goods are delivered and received for transportation.—Marriam v. Hartford and New Haven R. R. Co., 20 Conn. 354; S. C., 2 Amer. Railway Cas. 135; Story on Bailm. p. 537, § 532; see, also, Hannibal Railroad v. Swift, 12 Wall. 262. In this State, under our statute, there is a duty imposed by law on the carrier to give “a receipt” for the article delivered for transportation. — Rev. Code, § 1883.
I purposely omit to discuss the other charges given and refused in the court below, as what has already been said will enable the court, upon a new trial, to charge the law correctly. And nothing is intended to be declared as to what facts will prove a delivery for transportation.
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the cause is remanded for a new trial.