114 Ga. 576 | Ga. | 1902
The Flint River Lumber Company brought suit against tbe Western Union Telegraph Company in the city court of Decatur county, alleging in its petition, in substance, as follows; On May 31,1897, the plaintiff, in answer to a telegraphic inquiry from R. B. Currier, of Springfield, Massachusetts, asking for prices of lumber in five car-load lots, delivered to the defendant, to be transmitted to Currier, a telegram which read as follows: ' “ For quick shipment and quick net cash will make price twenty fifty; answer.” By a mistake of the telegraph company in transmitting the telegram, when delivered to Currier it read: “For quick shipment and quick net cash will make price twenty five; answer.” The meaning of this telegram, as it was interpreted by lumbermen, and in the light of the terms of the telegram to which it was an answer, as well as in the light of the fact that the market price of lumber was at that time nowhere near $25 per thousand, would be that the plaintiff offered to Currier the lumber at the price of $20 per thousand feet in five car-load lots. The offer as thus understood by Currier was accepted by him and-the lumber shipped, and when demand was made for payment the telegram with the error in it was displayed; and plaintiff avers that by reason of this error, which
If the question were an open one in this State, we must admit that upon principle there would be serious difficulties in the way of holding that a telegraph company is such an agent of the sender of a telegram as that he would be bound by the terms of the telegram delivered to the addressee, when they are materially different from the terms of the telegram as delivered for transmission. If the telegraph company is an agent at all, it must be either a general agent or a special agent. It can not, of course, be contended that it is in any sense a general agent to make contracts in behalf of those who use the telegraph as a means of communication, and the agency must therefore be of a character known to the law as a special agency. If this is true, the agency being of a limited character, it is created for the purpose'only of communicating to the addressee the exact contents of the telegram as delivered to it, and communicating a telegram containing anything else is not within the scope of the authority of such an agent. If we were called ujoon to determine this question solely upon authority, we would also be met with serious difficulties; for the courts of England all seem to hold that the telegraph company is not the agent of the sender and that the sender is not bound by the mistakes of such company, and courts of respectable standing in this country disagree as to what is the relation between the telegraph company and the sender of a telegram. When one delivers a telegram to a telegraph company, the undertaking of the company is, of course, to transmit and deliver promptly and accurately, and the sender would have a right of action against the telegraph company for any damages he has sustained on account of its failure to transmit the telegram promptly and accurately, and if no actual damage were sustained, he would be entitled to at least nominal damages for the breach of the contract. But the question iu the present case is, when one asks another to make an offer for the sale of an article, and the offer thus requested is made by telegraph, and the telegraph company
The present case, we think, is controlled, at least in principle, by the ruling made by this court in the case of Western Union Telegraph Company v. Shotter, 71 Ga. 760. In that case Shotter brought an action against the telegraph company for damages on account of mistakes made in the transmission of a telegram. He delivered a telegram to the defendant, addressed to a party in Chicago, which read, “ Can deliver hundred turpentine sixty-four, immediate reply.” The telegram as delivered to the addressee read sixty instead of sixty-four, and a reply was sent to ship “ one hundrecTbarrels as quoted.” Plaintiff shipped the one hundred barrels, and upon demand for payment the addressee refused to pay more than sixty cents per gallon for the turpentine, and an action was brought against the telegraph company for the difference between the price stated in the telegram as delivered to the company and the price stated in the one as delivered to the addressee. The defendant demurred to the plaintiff’s petition, on the ground that the damages were not the legal and natural consequence of the
We have been unable to find any other decisions of this court bearing even indirectly upon the question now under consideration. It seems that the ruling made in this case has from the time of its rendition been silently acquiesced in by the profession, and the General Assembly has not during that time seen fit to change the rule therein laid down. For nearly twenty years this rule has been the law of this State, and after this lapse of time we would not feel justified in overruling the decision, even if a review of the case had been requested, although we may have some doubt as to the conclusion therein reached, both upon principle and authority. There was no request to review the case, and we could not do otherwise than follow it in the present case, even if we were disposed to hold to the contrary. It may be said, however, that the decision, though possibly subject to the criticism that it is not entirely consonant with established principles of law, does have for its foundation an admixture of justice and natural equity, an adherence to both of which was a controlling characteristic of the able and learned Chief Justice who rendered the opinion, especially in cases where he felt that justice would be defeated by applying too strictly the rigid rules of the common law to the conditions and agencies of modem times, which were never for a moment dreamed of by the compilers and expounders of the ancient English law. We are therefore of opinion that the petition set forth a cause of action, and was not subject to any of the objections set up in the demurrers.
The evidence authorized the judgment rendered by the judge of the city court; there was no material variance between the allegations of the petition and the proof; there was no error committed which required a reversal of the judgment of the city court; and the judge of the superior court did not err in overruling the petition for certiorari.
Judgment affirmed.