Arthur v. Texas & Pacific Railway Co.

Citations

• 204 U.S. 505
• 27 S. Ct. 338
• 51 L. Ed. 590
• 1907 U.S. LEXIS 1477

Syllabus

<p>Cau v. Texas & Pacific By. Co., 194 U. S. 427, followed as to binding effect of agreements in bills of lading exempting carrier from fire loss-and claimed to have been forced on the shipper under duress and without consideration.</p> <p>Where a railway company has no other place for delivery of cotton than the stores and platform of a compress company, where all cotton transported by it is compressed at its expense and by its order; its acceptance of, and exchange of its own bills of lading for, receipts of the compress company passes to it the constructive possession and absolute control of the cotton represented thereby, and constitutes a, complete deliv-1 ery to it thereof; nor can the railway company thereafter divest itself of responsibility for due care by leaving .the cotton in the hands of the compress company as that company becomes its agent. . \\</p> <p>On the evidence in this case the question of whether the custodians of the cotton were guilty of negligence should have been submitted to the jury.</p>