Katharine Hooker brought an action in the Superior Court of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, to recover from the Boston & Maine Railroad as a common carrier on account of the loss of certain baggage belonging to her, which had been transported by the defendant in interstate commerce from Boston, Massachusetts, to Sunapee Lake station, New Hampshire, on September 15, 1908. The plaintiff recovered a judgment for the value of the baggage lost with interest. The case was taken to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upon exceptions of the defendant, and upon its rescript, returned to the
The defendant insists that the recovery of the plaintiff should have been limited to the sum of $100, in view of certain requirements made by it concerning the transportation of baggage and filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission. From the findings of fact it appears that the baggage was checked upon a first class ticket purchased for the plaintiff (although not used by her, she traveling upon another similar ticket purchased by herself); that at the time the baggage was checked the plaintiff had no notice of the regulations hereinafter referred to limiting the liability of the defendant (further than such notice is to be presumed from the schedules filed and posted as hereinafter stated); that no inquiry was made by the defendant on receiving the plaintiff's baggage as to its value; that there was no evidence that any more expensive or different mode of transportation was adopted for baggage the value of which was declared to exceed $100 than for other baggage; that any reasonable person would infer from the outward appearance of the plaintiff's baggage when tendered to the defendant for transportation that the value largely exceeded $100, and that the loss of plaintiff's baggage was due to the negligence of defendant.
The court further found that previous to and during September, 1908, the defendant had published and kept open for inspection and filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission, in accordance with the act of Congress relating to interstate commerce and amendments thereto and the orders and regulations of the Commission, schedules giving the rates, fares and charges for transportation between different points, including Boston and Sunapee Lake station, all terminal, storage and other charges required by the Commission, all privileges and facilities granted or allowed, and all rules or regulations
"For excess value the rate will be one-half of the current excess baggage rate per one hundred pounds for each one hundred dollars, or fraction thereof, of increased value declared. The minimum charge for excess value will be 15 cents.
"Baggage liability is limited to personal baggage not to exceed one hundred dollars in value for a passenger presenting a full ticket and fifty dollars in value for a half ticket, unless a greater value is declared and stipulated by the owner and excess charges thereon paid at time of taking the baggage" (p. 600); that the excess charge for transporting baggage valued at $1,904.50 which was the value of the baggage lost, from Boston to Sunapee Lake station during September, 1908, according to the schedules, was $4.75; that notices were posted at or near the offices where passengers' tickets were sold in the Boston
It is to be borne in mind that the action as tried and decided in the state court was not for negligence of the Railroad Company as a warehouseman for the loss of the baggage after its delivery at Sunapee Lake station, but was solely upon the contract of carriage in interstate commerce.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, in deciding the case, held that the Interstate Commerce Act did not in any wise change the common law rule, applicable in Massachusetts, that regulations of this character, limiting the amount of recovery for baggage lost, must be brought home to the knowledge of the shipper and assented to or circumstances shown from which assent might be implied. In reaching this conclusion that learned court relied upon the case of Pennsylvania R.R. Co. v. Hughes, 191 U.S. 477, in which case it was held that a State might apply its local law and policy to recovery for the loss of a horse shipped in interstate commerce from Albany, New York, to Cynwyd, in the State of Pennsylvania, and injured by the negligence of a carrier in the latter State, notwithstanding the bill of lading contained an express condition that the carrier assumed liability to the extent only of the agreed valuation in event of loss.
Since the decision in the Hughes Case the Hepburn Act of June 29, 1906, c. 3591, 34 Stat. 584, has been passed, and this court has held that by virtue of that act (particularly § 20, the Carmack Amendment) the subject of interstate transportation of property has been regulated by Federal law to the exclusion of the power of the States to control in such respect by their own policy or legislation. In this connection we may refer to the cases of Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, 226 U.S. 491; Wells, Fargo & Co. v. Neiman-Marcus Co., 227 U.S. 469; Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. Carl, 227 U.S. 639; Missouri, Kansas & Texas Ry. Co. v. Harriman, 227 U.S. 657.
The cases in 226 and 227 U.S., it is true, involved liability for express or freight shipments made upon express receipts, bills of lading or separate contracts, showing on their face or by reference to tariffs the opportunity for valuation for the purpose of fixing the rate and liability, and the limitation appearing in such form of contract was declared to be valid and effectual to relieve the carrier from a greater liability than that therein expressed. But the court did not stop there: In Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, supra, p. 509, it said: "The knowledge of the shipper that the rate was based upon the value is to be presumed from the terms of the bill of lading and of the published schedules filed with the Commission." In Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. Carl, supra, p. 652, this court said: "The valuation the shipper declares determines the legal rate where there are two rates based upon valuation. He must take notice of the rate applicable,
Before these cases were decided this court had held that the effect of filing schedules of rates with the Interstate Commerce Commission was to make the published rates binding upon shipper and carrier alike, thus making effectual the purpose of the act to have but one rate, open to all alike and from which there could be no departure. Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Ry. v. Hefley, 158 U.S. 98; Texas & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Mugg, 202 U.S. 242; Armour Packing Co. v. United States, 209 U.S. 56, 81; Louis. & Nash. R.R. v. Mottley, 219 U.S. 467, 476. This principle it will be perceived was fully recognized in the series of cases decided since the passage of the Hepburn Act, beginning with the case of Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, supra. It is true that the Carmack Amendment requires a receipt or bill of lading to be issued concerning shipments of property in interstate commerce and that in the cases construing that amendment a bill of lading was issued, and according to the circumstances of the case the bill of lading and its effect are discussed in each of these, but the
The court below, after conceding that the subject-matter of passenger's baggage in interstate travel is within the control of Congress, and saying that there was no specific regulation respecting it, said (p. 602):
"The precise position of the defendant is that as the limitation of liability for baggage was filed and posted as a part of its schedules for passenger tariff, the limitation thereby became and was an essential part of its rate, from which under the interstate commerce law it could not deviate, and by which the plaintiff was bound, regardless of her knowledge of or assent to it. If the premise is sound, then the conclusion follows, for the public are held inexorably to the rate published, regardless of knowledge, assent or even misrepresentation. Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway v. Hefley, 158 U.S. 98. Texas & Pacific Railway v. Mugg, 202 U.S. 242. Melody v. Great Northern Railway, 25 So. Dak. 606."
It follows therefore, from the previous decisions in this court, that if it be found that the limitation of liability for baggage is required to be filed in the carrier's tariffs, the plaintiff was bound by such limitation. Having the notice which follows from the filed and published regulations, as required by the statute and the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, she might have declared the value of her luggage, paid the excess tariff rate and thus secured the liability of the carrier to the full amount of the value of her baggage, or she might, for the purpose of transportation, have valued it at $100 and received free transportation and liability to that extent only, or, as she did, she might have made no valuation of her baggage, in which event the rate and the corresponding liability would have automatically attached. As to the finding
Let us now turn to the Interstate Commerce Act and see whether the matter of the limitation of baggage liability is covered by that act. Section 6 provides (as amended by § 2 of the Hepburn Act, June 29, 1906, c. 3591, 34 Stat. 584, 586):
"That every common carrier subject to the provisions of this Act shall file with the Commission created by this Act and print and keep open to public inspection schedules showing all the rates, fares, and charges for transportation between different points on its own route and between points on its own route and points on the route of any other carrier by railroad, by pipe line, or by water when a through route and joint rate have been established. If no joint rate over the through route has been established, the several carriers in such through route shall file, print, and keep open to public inspection as aforesaid, the separately established rates, fares and charges applied to the through transportation. The schedules printed as aforesaid by any such common carrier shall plainly state the places between which property and passengers will be carried, and shall contain the classification of freight in force, and shall also state separately all terminal charges, storage charges, icing charges, and all other charges which the Commission may require, all privileges or facilities granted or allowed and any rules or regulations which in any wise change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of such aforesaid rates, fares, and charges, or the value of the service rendered to the passenger, shipper, or
* * * * * * * *
"No carrier, unless otherwise provided by this Act, shall engage or participate in the transportation of passengers or property, as defined in this Act, unless the rates, fares, and charges upon which the same are transported by said carrier have been filed and published in accordance with the provisions of this Act; nor shall any carrier charge or demand or collect or receive a greater or less or different compensation for such transportation of passengers or property, or for any service in connection therewith, between the points named in such tariffs than the rates, fares, and charges which are specified in the tariff filed and in effect at the time; nor shall any carrier refund or remit in any manner or by any device any portion of the rates, fares, and charges so specified, nor extend to any shipper or person any privileges or facilities in the transportation of passengers or property, except such as are specified in such tariffs. . . ."
It is to be observed that the schedules are required to state, among other things, in naming certain charges, "all other charges which the Commission may require, all privileges or facilities granted or allowed and any rules or regulations which in any wise change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of such aforesaid rates, fares, and charges, or the value of the service rendered to the passenger, shipper, or consignee." The question then is did the limitation as to liability for baggage based
It seems to us that the ordinary signification of the terms used in the act would cover such requirements as are here made for the amount of recovery for baggage lost by the carrier. It is a regulation which fixes and determines the amount to be charged for the carriage in view of the responsibility assumed, and it also affects the value of the service rendered to the passenger. Such requirements are spoken of, in decisions dealing with them, as regulations; as, a common carrier "may prescribe regulations to protect himself against imposition and fraud, and fix a rate of charges proportionate to the magnitude of the risks he may have to encounter." York Co. v. Central R.R., 3 Wall. 107, 112. "It is undoubtedly competent for carriers of passengers, by specific regulations, distinctly brought to the knowledge of the passenger, which are reasonable in their character and not inconsistent with any statute or their duties to the public, to protect themselves against liability, as insurers, for baggage exceeding a fixed amount in value, except upon additional compensation, proportioned to the risk. And in order that such regulations may be practically effective and the carrier advised of the full extent of its responsibility, and, consequently, of the degree of precaution necessary upon its part, it may rightfully require, as a condition precedent to any contract for the transportation of baggage, information from the passenger as to its value; and if the value thus disclosed exceeds that which the passenger may reasonably demand to be transported as baggage without extra compensation, the carrier, at its option, can make such additional charge as the risk fairly justifies." Railroad Co. v. Fraloff, 100 U.S. 24, 27.
Mr. Justice Brewer, sitting in the Circuit Court, in Ames v. Union Pac. Ry. Co., 64 Fed. Rep. 165, 178, thus defined the term regulation: "Within the term `regulation'
Turning to the act itself we think the conclusion that this limitation is a regulation required to be filed by the act is strengthened by section 22
This conclusion is further strengthened by the action of the Interstate Commerce Commission, in requiring by its Tariff Circular No. 15-A, entitled "Regulations Governing the Construction and Filing of Freight Tariffs and Classification
"34. Tariffs shall contain, in the order named
"(g) Rules and regulations which govern the tariff, the title of each rule or regulation to be shown in bold type. Under this head all of the rules, regulations, or conditions which in any way affect the fares named in the tariff shall be entered. . . . These rules shall include . . . the general baggage regulations, and also schedule of excess-baggage rates, unless such excess-baggage rates are shown in tariff in connection with the fares."
This requirement is a practical interpretation of the law by the administrative body having its enforcement in charge, and is entitled to weight in construing the act.
The act of June 18, 1910 (c. 309, 36 Stat. 539, 546), defining, in § 1, the duties of carriers to make just and reasonable regulations affecting, among other things, the carrying of personal, sample and excess baggage, may be noted in passing. This statute was before the Commission in a case involving such regulations. Regulations Restricting the Dimensions of Baggage, 26 I.C.C. 292. Concerning it the Commission, by Clark, Chairman, said (p. 293):
"Prior to June 18, 1910, the act to regulate commerce contained no specific provision relating to the interstate transportation of baggage, except in connection with the issuance of joint interchangeable mileage tickets. The Commission had, however, under authority of section 6, required carriers to publish and file their general baggage regulations and their schedules of excess-baggage rates. Section 1 was amended on the date named, the amendment, in so far as it is material, reading as follows:
"It is hereby made the duty of all common carriers subject to the provisions of this act to establish, observe,
And it is to be observed that the Commission considers its requirement with reference to including baggage regulations in the tariff schedules, quoted above, as adequate, for the same provisions appear in its current circular.
We are therefore of the opinion that the requirement published concerning the amount of the liability of the defendant based upon additional payment where baggage was declared to exceed $100 in value was determinative of the rate to be charged and did affect the service to be rendered to the passenger, as it fixed the price to be paid for the service rendered in the particular case, and was, therefore, a regulation within the meaning of the statute.
By requiring the baggage regulations, including the excess valuation rate, to be filed and become part of the tariff schedules, the rule of the common law that the carrier becomes an insurer of the safety of baggage against accidents not the act of God or the public enemy or the fault of the passenger (the rule established in this country, 3 Hutchinson on Carriers, § 1241) was not changed. The effect of such filing is to permit the carrier by such regulations to obtain commensurate compensation for the responsibility assumed for the safety of the passenger's baggage, and to require the passenger whose knowledge of the character and value of his baggage is peculiarly his own to declare its value and pay for the excess amount. There is no question of the reasonableness or propriety of making such regulations, which would be binding upon the passenger if brought to his knowledge in such wise as
The language of the regulation filed, reads: Baggage liability is limited to personal baggage not to exceed $100 in value, etc., unless a greater value is declared, etc. We have said that this limitation does not relieve from the insurer's liability when the loss occurs otherwise than by negligence, and we think applies equally when negligence of the carrier is the cause of loss, as is found in this case. The effect of the filing gives the regulation as to baggage the force of a contract determining "Baggage liability." In Hart v. Pennsylvania R.R., 112 U.S. 331, 341, followed in the later cases in this court, it was held that a recovery may not be had above the amount stipulated though the loss results from the carrier's negligence. "The carrier
If the charges filed were unreasonable, the only attack that could be made upon such regulation would be by proceedings contesting their reasonableness before the Interstate Commerce Commission. While they were in force they were equally binding upon the railroad company and all passengers whose baggage was transported by carriers in interstate commerce. This being the fact, we think the limitation of liability to $100 fixed the amount which the plaintiff could recover in this case, and there was error in affirming the recovery for the full value of the baggage, in the absence of a declaration of such value and payment of the additional amount required to secure liability in the greater sum.
We do not think the requirement of the Carmack Amendment, that a railway company receiving property for transportation in interstate commerce shall issue a receipt or bill of lading therefor, required other receipts than baggage checks, which it is shown were issued when the baggage was received in this case. When the Amendment was passed Congress well knew that baggage was not carried upon bills of lading, and that carriers had been accustomed to issue checks upon receipt of baggage. We do not think it was intended to require a departure from this practice when the matter was placed under regulation by schedules filed and subject to change for unreasonableness upon application to the Commission. Such checks are receipts, and there is no special requirement in the statute as to their form. It is doubtless in the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission to make requirements as to the checks or receipts to be given for baggage if that
Reversed and remanded to the Superior Court of Massachusetts for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
MR. JUSTICE PITNEY, dissenting.
I have been unable to find a previous instance where any court, in this country at least, in an action by shipper or passenger against common carrier for loss of freight or baggage occasioned by the negligence of the carrier or its employes, has held the recovery to be limited to an arbitrary sum unrelated to the value of the goods lost, and this without any previous valuation or agreement assented to by the shipper or passenger, without any representation of value made by him, and without even notice brought home to him of any rule or regulation upon which the limitation of liability is based. The effect given by the present decision to a "regulation" prescribed by the carrier, that while formally promulgated was in fact unknown to the passenger, seems to me an entire departure from the principles governing the duties and responsibilities of common carriers as heretofore recognized by this court and by the courts of the States generally, as laid down in the text-books and cyclopedias of law, and as reiterated and applied by this court in a recent series of notable decisions.
We are referred to the "Act to Regulate Commerce" of February 4, 1887, c. 104, 24 Stat. 379, as amended June 29, 1906 by the Hepburn Act, c. 3591, 34 Stat. 584, with citation of the provision in § 6 of the act respecting the filing and publication of schedules showing the rates, fares, and charges for transportation, etc., and with particular emphasis upon the so-called Carmack Amendment. I do not find in either of these any phrase or expression that manifests a legislative intent to lessen or limit in any way
The result reached in the present case — which seems so contrary to all previous adjudications and to the apparent meaning of the acts of Congress — is based (if I understand the opinion), not upon any legislation directly addressed to the particular subject, but upon inferences deduced by indirect reasoning from the assumed policy of the law. The reasoning, as I am constrained to believe, disregards familiar principles established by repeated decisions of this court, in the light of which Congress undoubtedly legislated; and it has the effect of placing honest but unskilled shippers and passengers at a serious disadvantage in dealing with common carriers, enabling the latter, by "regulations" never called to the attention of the former, to obtain practical immunity from responsibility for losses due to their own negligence.
The consequences are so serious that I have been unable to convince myself that I should acquiesce in silence.
The salient facts are mentioned in the opinion, but some are not noticed, and it is proper to state that plaintiff traveled, in September, 1908, as an interstate passenger upon defendant's train from Boston, Massachusetts, to Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire, having in fact paid two first-class fares, one ticket being used for the checking of her baggage, the other for her personal transportation. Defendant's schedules, filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission and published in the mode prescribed by the act of Congress, showed the rates of fares between
In the trial court, plaintiff relied wholly upon a count of her declaration which, after reciting the status of defendant as a common carrier and the contract of carriage in interstate commerce, averred as ground of recovery the neglect and refusal of defendant to deliver the baggage to plaintiff at Sunapee Lake upon demand made, accompanied with a tender of the checks. But the course of the trial shows that negligence was a principal issue, if not the only vital issue; both parties requested findings upon the question, and findings were made in response to their respective requests; and upon review the state Supreme Court treated negligence as the asserted ground of liability, saying (209 Massachusetts, 599): "The plaintiff, an interstate passenger of the defendant, claims
Although, according to the well known Massachusetts doctrine, the railroad company's responsibility strictly as carrier would seem to have terminated with the completion of the transit and the safe deposit of the baggage in the railroad station, its responsibility thereafter being that of warehouseman, (Thomas v. Boston & Providence Railroad Corp., 10 Met. 472, 477; Norway Plains Co. v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 1 Gray, 263, 273; Barron v. Eldredge, 100 Massachusetts, 455, 459; Lane v. Boston & Albany Railroad Co., 112 Massachusetts, 455, 462; Stowe v. New York &c. Railroad Co., 113 Massachusetts, 521, 523; Rice v. Hart, 118 Massachusetts, 201, 207); the distinction appears to have been ignored by the Massachusetts court in discussing the case, perhaps because it does not affect the responsibility for a loss of goods attributable to negligence; there being in this respect no difference between a carrier and a warehouseman. But it might affect the question whether defendant's responsibility is to be determined in the light of the Interstate Commerce Act; and I concede that it is.
It is of course true that in Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, 226 U.S. 491, this court held that by the Carmack Amendment (34 Stat. 595, set forth in the margin,
And I concede that the Supreme Court of Massachusetts erred if it intended to hold that the carrier's responsibility for interstate passengers' baggage is not likewise within the sweep of the Amendment.
The concrete question, therefore, is whether under the Interstate Commerce Act and the Carmack Amendment this defendant's liability to plaintiff, upon the facts stated, is properly to be limited to one hundred dollars.
My views, in brief, are:
(a) That the baggage regulation limiting the liability to the amount named (if construed as operative without the knowledge or consent of the passenger, and in the absence of an actual valuation of the goods, assented to by the passenger), is not authorized or sanctioned by the Commerce Act, and is invalid because contrary to the established policy of the law governing the common carrier in the performance of its public duties, and because contrary to the letter and spirit of the Carmack Amendment.
(b) That the regulation had not received the approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission, but on the contrary was covered by an adverse administrative ruling made by the commission a few months before the occurrences that gave rise to this action.
(c) That, being invalid per se, the regulation derived no legal force or vitality from being included in the filed and published schedules.
(d) That the filing of the regulation cannot give it the force of a contract, because (1) plaintiff was ignorant of the regulation in fact; (2) to make it a part of her contract without her knowledge would render it a contract limiting
(e) That plaintiff is not estopped to recover the full value of her goods, for she was entirely free from blame in the matter, made no representation as to value and sought no special advantage.
(f) That even were the contract of carriage as actually made, invalid, this would not render the bailment unlawful, and (at least) the carrier would be responsible for the loss of the goods through negligence, irrespective of the contract.
(g) That by the terms of the Carmack Amendment the railroad company in this case is precluded from setting up a limitation of liability, (1) because the limitation, as asserted against a passenger who was ignorant of the regulation and had made no contract under it, amounts to a rule or regulation for exempting the carrier from liability for a loss of property caused by the carrier's negligence, contrary to the terms of the Amendment; and (2) because the carrier waived any benefit of the regulation (if that were valid) by failing to deliver to plaintiff a receipt or bill of lading embodying the terms of the contract as required by the same enactment.
The importance of the subject seems to warrant a somewhat extended discussion.
(1.) Reference is made to § 6 of the Commerce Act as amended by the Hepburn Act; the portion relied upon being that which requires the filed and published schedules to state "any rules or regulations which in any wise change, affect, or determine any part or the aggregate of such aforesaid rates, fares, and charges, or the value of the service rendered to the passenger, shipper, or consignee."
It is important to observe that § 6, either before or since the Hepburn act, does not prescribe what the rules and regulations shall be. Neither this section nor any other section of the act confers upon the carrier any authority over the subject. It is implied that there may be, indeed must be, rules and regulations for carrying on the business of a common carrier, in order to secure system, efficiency and a just performance of its public duties; and § 6, recognizing this, prescribes — and, as I think, only prescribes — that whatever rules and regulations may be duly established which "in any wise change, affect, or determine the rates, fares, and charges, or the value of the
This is a principle universally recognized from an early day by the courts of this country, and it lies at the foundation of the rule everywhere prevalent (differing, in this regard, from the rule that prevailed in England for a time prior to the Railway & Canal Traffic Act, 1854, 17 and 18 Vict., c. 31, § 7), that the carrier cannot limit his liability by any general regulation or published notice.
It is for this reason, primarily, that the regulation here in question, — "Baggage liability is limited to personal baggage not to exceed one hundred dollars in value . . . unless a greater value is declared," etc., if treated as intended to be effective without the knowledge or assent of the passenger, seems to me to be a regulation entirely beyond the power of the carrier to establish. The state reports are full of cases recognizing the principle, and applying and enforcing it with respect to the particular subject-matter now under consideration. It is not necessary, however, to go outside of our own reports, for this court from the beginning until now has constantly recognized and steadfastly enforced this limitation of the authority of the common carrier with respect to regulations of the same essential character as the one now in question.
In York Co. v. Central Railroad, 3 Wall. 107, 112, the court, speaking by Mr. Justice Field, said: "The law prescribes the duties and responsibilities of the common carrier. He exercises, in one sense, a public employment, and has duties to the public to perform. Though he may . . . prescribe regulations to protect himself against imposition and fraud, and fix a rate of charges proportionate to the magnitude of the risks he may have to encounter, he can make no discrimination between persons, or vary his charges for their condition or character.
In Railroad Co. v. Manufacturing Co., 16 Wall. 318, 329, the court, after repeating the language I have quoted from the opinion in 6 How., proceeded to say: "These considerations against the relaxation of the common law responsibility by public advertisements, apply with equal force to notices having the same object, attached to receipts given by carriers on taking the property of those who employ them into their possession for transportation. Both are attempts to obtain, by indirection, exemption from burdens imposed in the interests of trade upon this particular business. It is not only against the policy of the law, but a serious injury to commerce to allow the carrier to say that the shipper of merchandise assents to the terms proposed in a notice, whether it be general to the public or special to a particular person, merely because he does not expressly dissent from them. If the parties were on an equality in their dealings with each other there might be some show of reason for assuming acquiescence from silence, but in
So in Railroad Co. v. Fraloff, 100 U.S. 24, 27, the court said: "It is undoubtedly competent for carriers of passengers, by specific regulations, distinctly brought to the knowledge of the passenger, which are reasonable in their character and not inconsistent with any statute or their duties to the public, to protect themselves against liability, as insurers, for baggage exceeding a fixed amount in value, except upon additional compensation, proportioned to the risk. And in order that such regulations may be practically effective, and the carrier advised of the full extent of its responsibility, and, consequently, of the degree of precaution necessary upon its part, it may rightfully require, as a condition precedent to any contract for the transportation of baggage, information from the passenger as to its value; and if the value thus disclosed exceeds that which the passenger may reasonably demand to be transported as baggage without extra compensation, the carrier, at its option, can make such additional charge as the risk fairly justifies."
(2.) And if it is against the policy of the law for a common carrier to limit its "common law liability" — that of quasi-insurer of goods — by general regulation or published notice not assented to by the passenger or shipper, this is more emphatically true with respect to its responsibility for losses due to the negligence of the carrier or of its servants; for, even by express contract, upon whatever
The rule admits of but one exception, and that is hedged with important qualifications. It is, that where a contract of carriage is fairly made between shipper and carrier agreeing upon a valuation of the property carried, or based upon a valuation declared by the shipper and relied on by the carrier, with a rate of freight based upon a condition limiting the carrier's liability to the amount of the agreed or declared valuation, and the valuation is in good faith relied upon by the carrier and is not a mere cover for an attempt by the carrier to escape liability for negligence, the contract will be recognized as a proper mode of securing a due proportion between the amount for which the carrier is responsible and the freight he receives, and the shipper will be estopped from claiming more than the agreed or declared valuation, even in case of a loss due to negligence. So it was laid down by this court in Hart v. Pennsylvania Railroad, 112 U.S. 331, 338, and the grounds of decision were expressed in the opinion of the court (by Mr. Justice Blatchford) in terms so clear that besides being uniformly followed by this court until now, they have been adopted generally by States that adhere to the common law rules of liability. To quote from the opinion (112 U.S. 340): "As a general rule, and in the absence of fraud or imposition, a common carrier is answerable for the loss of a package of goods though he is ignorant of its contents, and though its contents are ever so valuable, if he does not make a special acceptance. This is reasonable, because he can always guard himself by a special acceptance, or by insisting on being informed of the nature and value of the articles before receiving them.
(3.) Such was the state of the common law of this country, as universally recognized, when the Interstate Commerce Act was passed, and I am unable to see in § 6, or elsewhere in that act, any purpose to change it. During the entire time that intervened between the passage of the act and the passage of the Hepburn Act (including the Carmack Amendment) in 1906, the courts of the States
Indeed, this court, in the recent case of Pennsylvania Railroad v. Hughes, 191 U.S. 477, 488, held that § 6, as it stood after the amendment of March 2, 1889, and before the Hepburn Act, did not amount to a regulation of the matter of a limitation of the carrier's liability to a particular sum in consideration of lower freight rates for transportation. To quote from the opinion (pp. 487, 488): "It may be assumed that under the broad power conferred upon Congress over interstate commerce as defined in repeated decisions of this court, it would be lawful for that body to make provision as to contracts for interstate carriage, permitting the carrier to limit its liability to a particular sum in consideration of lower freight rates for transportation. But upon examination of the terms of the law relied upon we fail to find any such provision therein. The sections of the interstate commerce law relied upon by the learned counsel for plaintiff in error, 24 Stat. 379, 382; 25 Stat. 855, provide for equal facilities to shippers for the interchange of traffic; for non-discrimination in freight rates; for keeping schedules of rates open to public inspection; for posting the same in public places, with certain particulars as to charges, rules and regulations; . . . giving remedies for the enforcement of the foregoing provisions, and providing penalties for their violation. . . . While under these provisions it may be said that Congress
This query was by the decision answered in the negative. And as a result, notwithstanding § 6 of the Commerce Act, the courts of Pennsylvania were left free to disregard the rule laid down in Hart v. Pennsylvania Railroad and to follow their own declared doctrine denying the right of a common carrier to limit its liability for losses due to negligence, even by a special agreement including a valuation assented to by the shipper. In this respect the situation was changed by the Carmack Amendment to the Hepburn Act, but not (so far as I can see) by any of the changes made in § 6 by that act.
(4.) And I had supposed that since as before the Carmack Amendment, under the decisions of this court in Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, 226 U.S. 491, and the other cases that have followed it along the same line, the general rules of law that disabled the common carrier from establishing regulations for limiting its liability by general notice not brought home to the shipper, and debarred the carrier from limiting its liability for losses due to negligence except by a special agreement including a fair valuation assented to by the shipper, had remained in full force and vigor, and indeed by the effect of the Amendment had been made the exclusive rule of conduct for interstate carriers by rail. For the Croninger Case not only held (negatively) that the Amendment superseded state laws upon the subject, but (affirmatively)
It was upon this construction of the act that we proceeded to determine the validity of the provision in the receipt or bill of lading there in question, which limited the liability of the carrier to the agreed value of $50; and we applied thereto the familiar rules to which I have already referred. Thus (p. 509): "That a common carrier cannot exempt himself from liability for his own negligence or that of his servants is elementary. York Mfg. Co. v. Illinois Central Railroad, 3 Wall. 107; Railroad Co. v. Lockwood, 17 Wall. 357; Bank of Kentucky v. Adams Express Co., 93 U.S. 174; Hart v. Pennsylvania Railroad, 112 U.S. 331, 338. The rule of the common law did not limit his liability to loss and damage due to his own negligence, or that of his servants. That rule went beyond this and he was liable for any loss or damage which resulted from human agency, or any cause not the act of God or the public enemy. But the rigor of this liability might be modified through any fair, reasonable and just agreement with the shipper which did not include exemption against the negligence of the carrier or his servants. The inherent right to receive a compensation commensurate with the risk involved the right to protect himself from fraud and imposition by reasonable rules and regulations, and the right to agree upon a rate proportionate to the value of the property transported. It has therefore become an established rule of the common law as declared by this court in many cases that such a carrier may by a fair, open, just and reasonable agreement limit the amount recoverable by a shipper in case of loss or damage to an agreed value made for the
The other decisions that have followed the Croninger Case (C., B. & Q. Railway v. Miller, 226 U.S. 513; Chicago, St. P. &c. Ry. v. Latta, 226 U.S. 519; Wells, Fargo & Co. v. Neiman-Marcus Co., 227 U.S. 469; Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. Carl, 227 U.S. 639; Mo., Kans. & Tex. Ry. Co. v. Harriman, 227 U.S. 657; Chicago, R.I. & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Cramer, 232 U.S. 490; Great Northern Railway v. O'Connor, 232 U.S. 508), have simply applied the doctrine therein laid down, under varying circumstances.
In each of these cases there was a special contract, held by the court to have been fairly made, and to amount to a valuation by the shipper of the goods in question for the purposes of the shipment. In short, the court in each instance applied the rule of liability laid down in Hart v. Pennsylvania Railroad, supra.
(5.) Because of this firmly established policy of the law respecting the carrier's responsibility for the consequences of his negligence, I should have construed the "regulation" in question, limiting the baggage liability to $100, in subordination to that policy. According to the canon uniformly applied in construing statutes, that of giving them no meaning beyond that which the legislature may constitutionally enact, I should have construed the baggage regulation as a formula for standardizing the contracts proposed to be made by the carrier with the assent of passengers; not that the formula of itself constituted a substitute for a contract, or was intended to become binding upon the passenger until directly brought to his notice and in some way consciously assented to by him.
But my brethren construe it as binding in the absence of any knowledge or assent on the part of the passenger. So considered, I deem it void as being a regulation that was beyond the power of the common carrier to adopt. And if I am right about this, the fact that it was included.
It is not a question of mere unreasonableness. A carrier may resort to practices that are so clearly unwarranted by law as to require no preliminary application to the Commission, and that not even the sanction of the Commission could validate. I think the attempt to enforce, ex parte, such a limitation of liability is in that category.
(6). But, in fact, the Commission had distinctly ruled against the validity of the regulation in question, construed as the court now construes it; and had done this prior to the time this action arose.
I find nothing savoring of approval in Paragraph 34(g) of Tariff Circular No. 15A, effective April 15, 1908. The reference to "Excess-baggage rates" is to charges for excess weight, as I think sufficiently appears from 26 I.C.C. 292. But, if intended to apply to excess value, it does not suggest that a limitation of liability for losses attributable to negligence, effective without the knowledge or consent of the passenger, is to be made a part of such regulations.
And in Matter of Released Rates, 13 I.C.C. 550, decided May 14, 1908, the Commission, after full hearing and consideration, made an administrative interpretation of the Carmack Amendment, holding distinctly that it did not abrogate the law of the Lockwood Case, 17 Wall. 357, and the Hart Case, 112 U.S. 331. Among other rules laid down (Mr. Commissioner Lane writing), were these (p. 553): "(b) When the shipper has placed upon his goods a specific value, the carrier accepting the same in good faith as their real value, the rate of freight being fixed in accordance therewith, the shipper cannot recover an amount in excess of the value he has disclosed, even when loss is caused by the carrier's negligence," [citing the Hart Case, and quoting in italics from the opinion to the effect that under the circumstances disclosed "the shipper is estopped
(7.) In the Hart Case, 112 U.S. 331, the fundamental ground of decision, as appears from what has been quoted from the opinion, was that since the shipper had entered into a special agreement for the purpose of cheapening the freight he was estopped from saying that the value of the goods was greater than the value represented by him for the purposes of the agreement. So, also, in the Croninger Case, and the other recent cases referred to, estoppel was the ground of decision, as the opinions clearly show (226 U.S. p. 510, bottom; 227 U.S. p. 476, top; 227 U.S. p. 651, top; 227 U.S. p. 668, bottom). When participating in these decisions, I, for one, so understood them. In each case the principle of estoppel is essential to the reasoning. In the Carl Case (227 U.S. p. 651), it was said: "When a shipper delivers a package for shipment and declares a value, either upon request or voluntarily, and the carrier makes a rate accordingly, the shipper is estopped upon plain principles of justice from recovering, in case of loss or damage, any greater amount. The same principle applies if the value be declared in the form of a contract. If such a valuation be made in good faith for
That these decisions are inconsistent with the theory that the mere act of including the regulations upon the subject in the filed schedules would operate to limit the liability of the carrier, without any representation or agreement as to value, assented to by the shipper, seems to me equally clear. Although in each case the relation of the rate differential to the question of valuation was brought home to the shipper, so that it appeared that the shipper had actual notice of the regulation upon the subject contained in the filed and published schedules, it was not suggested that the mere existence of such a regulation, coupled with the fact that the shipment was made at the more advantageous freight rate, had the effect of limiting the liability of the carrier in the event of a loss attributable to negligence. On the contrary, while the relation of the rate differential to the valuation was discussed, it was treated as merely showing that there was consideration for the agreement made by the shipper limiting the responsibility of the carrier, and as showing
In the present case there is no ground for an estoppel against the plaintiff. She made no representation of any kind, her silence being attributable to her ignorance of the existence of the baggage regulation. No estoppel arises where the conduct of the party sought to be estopped is due to ignorance founded upon an innocent mistake; and the same is more evidently true when the innocent party is silent because not asked to speak and unaware that there is occasion — much less, duty — to speak. There is, I think, no support in reason or authority for holding that a person acting in good faith but in ignorance of his rights or of the rights of the other party, should be estopped on the ground of knowledge imputed to him by a mere fiction of the law. It is only when good faith requires one to speak that silence estops him; and in the findings of fact in this case there is not the slightest ground to attribute to the plaintiff any want of good faith. Estoppel in pais presupposes an actual fault or a culpable silence. Merchants Bank v. State Bank, 10 Wall. 604, 605; Morgan v. Railroad Co., 96 U.S. 716, 720.
And it seems sufficiently obvious that the railroad company did not in any wise rely upon plaintiff's silence to its disadvantage. There would, I think, be more reason for holding the company itself estopped, because it, and not the plaintiff, had knowledge of the baggage regulation; and, according to the findings, it was charged with notice that the baggage was worth much more than one hundred dollars; and the circumstances appearing from the facts as found, clearly indicate that plaintiff, through her agent, in effect tendered herself ready and willing to pay for her fare and baggage charges whatever was proper under the
When the carrier was thus applied to by one of the traveling public for the performance of a transportation service in the line of its public duty, without any intimation that anything less than the full measure of the carrier's responsibility would be accepted, it was the carrier's duty, I think, according to principles hitherto recognized, to quote a rate commensurate with the service demanded, including an unlimited responsibility where nothing less was mentioned. If the law required it to charge a higher rate for unlimited than for limited responsibility, it was its duty to quote such higher rate. Having failed to do this, it ought not afterwards to be permitted to take advantage of its own wrong. In view of the Commerce Act, I do not think the carrier, under such circumstances, is estopped from afterwards claiming the additional compensation that it ought to have exacted when quoting the rate. But I do think it ought to be held estopped from setting up any limitation of its responsibility, when no such limitation was in the contemplation of the patron on demanding the service.
(8.) As I read the Interstate Commerce Act, it expresses in its own terms the extent of the prohibition of special contracts of carriage. As has often been said, the main purpose of the act was to prevent discrimination, and the filing of the schedules is the principal means to that end. Section 6, as amended in 1906 (34 Stat. 587, c. 3591), prohibits the carrier from transporting passengers or property unless the rates, fares, and charges upon which the same are transported have been filed and published in accordance with the act; from charging or collecting a different compensation for such transportation or for any service in connection with it than as specified in the tariff; and from refunding or remitting in any manner or by any device any portion of the specified rates, or extending
These cases rest fundamentally upon the ground that to allow the shipper to have the benefit of a special agreement for lower rates or for better service than the standard rates and service prescribed by the published schedules would in effect compel the carrier to violate the provisions of the act. In this sense, and to this extent, all shippers are "bound" by the provisions of the act that bind the carrier. But to say that because of this a shipper or a passenger who has made no special contract at all, and claims the benefit of none, shall be conclusively deemed to have made a special contract, involving terms and conditions of which he was wholly ignorant, strikes me as a manifest non sequitur. And to hold that a passenger whose rights rest not upon any contract of shipment, but upon the negligence of the carrier, shall be barred from recovering full redress for the consequences of that negligence, upon the theory that he has unconsciously attempted to make a special contract in contravention of the act, is, I submit with respect, equally illogical. It seems also a
It is true that in the case at bar, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts (209 Massachusetts, at p. 602) unnecessarily, and, as I think, erroneously, conceded that if the regulation limiting the baggage liability to one hundred dollars in value was so related to the rates of transportation of passengers as to be a part of such rate, the plaintiff was "bound," regardless of her knowledge or assent, and therefore her recovery in this action would be limited accordingly. The error, as it seems to me, arose from a misconception of the effect of the decisions in the Hefley and Mugg Cases. The fallacy, if I am correct in deeming it to be such, lies in the double sense of the word "bound." I respectfully suggest that this court, in a matter of such far-reaching importance, ought not to accept the concession without testing its soundness.
If it were said that because she did not know of, and therefore did not assent to, a limitation of liability to $100, she remained still liable to pay to the railroad company the amount of money properly chargeable for the excess of valuation, and that the company had a lien upon the baggage for this amount on its arrival at destination, I could see the force of the suggestion. This would, perhaps, be within the doctrine of the Hefley and Mugg Cases. (Of course, I do not mean to say that the lien would survive after the goods were lost through the company's negligence.) But I can find nothing in any of the cases referred to that lends support to the view that a railroad company can limit its liability by limiting the rate charged,
The expressions employed in the Carl Case (227 U.S. p. 652), that "The valuation the shipper declares determines the legal rate where there are two rates based upon valuation," and that "When there are two published rates, based upon difference in value, the legal rate automatically attaches itself to the declared or agreed value," had reference to the effect of a voluntary declaration made by a shipper who fixes the valuation of his goods for the purposes of the shipment, knowing that the valuation determines the rate that must be charged, although perhaps unaware what the precise rate may be. The same is true of similar language used in the Harriman Case (227 U.S. at p. 669), the Cramer Case (232 U.S. at p. 493), and the O'Connor Case (232 U.S. at p. 515). I am unable to see that the reasoning applies to the case of a shipper or passenger who has declared no valuation, has exercised no choice, and is unaware that a choice is open.
To say that constructive notice of the filed regulation, of which plaintiff was in fact ignorant, gave her an actual opportunity to declare the value of her baggage, pay the excess tariff rate, and thus secure the liability of the carrier to the full amount of her baggage, is to say that a fiction is the same as a fact.
(9.) In the Croninger Case, and the others of the same class, the shipper consciously accepted a benefit in the form of a reduced freight charge as the consideration of an agreement voluntarily made valuing the goods for the purposes of the shipment. But here the plaintiff did nothing of the kind. She paid the full price asked by the carrier for transportation of herself and her baggage, unaware of any regulation of the carrier that would require the payment of an additional charge for an unlimited liability for baggage. If she were setting up and relying upon any special contract made in violation of the law,
Conceding, for argument's sake, that the contract of carriage as made between plaintiff and defendant, if deemed to import responsibility for the entire value of the baggage, was invalid because not made in accordance with the regulations filed and published in connection with the rate schedules, and because of the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act that in effect forbid the making of contracts otherwise than in accord with those schedules, — even so, the plaintiff was in no wise at fault. She was unaware that she was at liberty to exercise any option, to say nothing of being under an obligation to do so. The fault was wholly with defendant, for it made no inquiry respecting the value of her baggage, and gave her no notice of any limitation of liability, although itself charged with notice from the very appearance of the baggage that it must have been worth more than $100. And her present action is based upon the carrier's negligence, and not upon an affirmance of the contract.
Irrespective of the contract, the carrier, like any other bailee for hire, was bound to take reasonable care to preserve the property ready for delivery to its owner. I can
In Merchants Cotton Press Co. v. N.A. Insurance Co., 151 U.S. 368, 388, this court held that while an agreement for special rates, rebates, or drawbacks was void under the Interstate Commerce Act, the law did not make the contract of affreightment otherwise void, nor prevent liability on the part of the carrier for the freight received; that such a construction would encourage rather than discourage unlawful agreements for rebates, since the carrier might prefer them to a liability for the freight; and that although the contract for rebate was void and unenforceable, the shipper could nevertheless recover for loss of his freight through the carrier's negligence. This decision has never been overruled or qualified, and it seems to me quite decisive of the present question.
(10.) Thus far I have treated the case as one arising under the common law rules respecting the carrier's liability, as laid down in the decisions of this court and adopted generally by the Federal courts. I have endeavored
But let us now consider the specific force of that amendment (34 Stat. 584, p. 595, c. 3591, § 7, quoted in full in the marginal note, ante, p. 126). It declares (inter alia) that a railroad company receiving property for interstate transportation "shall issue a receipt or bill of lading therefor, and shall be liable to the lawful holder thereof for any loss, damage, or injury to such property caused by it . . ., and no contract, receipt, rule, or regulation shall exempt such common carrier, railroad, or transportation company from the liability hereby imposed." It was concerning this provision that the court said in the Croninger Case, speaking by Mr. Justice Lurton, 226 U.S. p. 505: "That the legislation supersedes all the regulations and policies of a particular State upon the same subject results from its general character. It embraces
And the language of the enactment shows that it was framed in view of the general and familiar practice of embodying in the receipt or bill of lading all the terms of the contract, including the valuation of the goods and the rules and regulations for limiting the liability of the carrier. Is it not perfectly manifest that when Congress declared that the carrier "shall issue a receipt or bill of lading" it intended that this document should embody the "contract, receipt, rule, or regulation" that are mentioned in the same clause? Is it possible, without twisting the words from their plain meaning, to read this so that the duty of the carrier shall be performed if it issues a receipt or bill of lading that does not evidence the contract between the parties, and the whole of that contract?
But in the present case there was no receipt or bill of lading within the meaning of the Carmack amendment as thus interpreted. There was nothing but three baggage checks, each bearing an identifying number, but, so far as the case shows, nothing else. I cannot agree that the statute leaves the carrier free to give a mere identifying token, instead of a "receipt or bill of lading." But, if I am wrong in this, it seems too clear for argument that so far as the carrier intends that any of its rules or regulations respecting its responsibility for the baggage are to be imported into the contract, it is incumbent upon it to set
I submit that the Hepburn Act, like the original act and its other amendments, is intended to impose duties upon the carrier — the public servant — not upon the shipper or passenger. There is nothing in the letter or the policy of the acts to absolve the carrier from its long-recognized duty to treat all shippers and passengers fairly, and to give them an actual opportunity to make a choice, where a choice is legally open to them. A carrier may not absolve himself in whole or in part from his responsibilities by any ex parte action. And where the rate schedules and accompanying regulations are designed to give an option
(11.) The serious consequences of the present decision are sufficiently manifest. Heretofore, shippers and passengers have been entitled to rest in the assurance that a common carrier who accepted their goods for transportation in the ordinary course of a carrier's public employment, became responsible, without any express contract upon the subject, for the full value of the goods, in case of their destruction through any negligence of the carrier or its agents, unless there was a distinct understanding to the contrary, participated in by the shipper or passenger. Hereafter, so far as interstate shipments by rail are concerned, the traveler or shipper cannot rest upon any such assurance, and will not be safe in dealing with a railroad company without being authoritatively instructed respecting the latest regulations filed by the carrier with the Interstate Commerce Commission at Washington. He cannot rely upon finding the regulations posted in the railroad station, for this is not essential to the efficacy of the schedules (Texas & Pac. Ry. v. Cisco Oil Mill, 204 U.S. 449). He cannot rely upon public notices that may be in fact posted in the station, for these may be misleading, as they were in the present case. He cannot rely upon receiving information from the company's local agents, for this may be withheld, as it was in this case. Unless he is possessed of a copy of the tariff schedules as filed, with time enough to scrutinize them, and skill enough to comprehend them, he must perforce accept
I can find no support for the result thus reached, either in the statute or in any previous decision.
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