Cunard S. S. Co. v. Kelley

Citations

• 115 F. 678
• 53 C.C.A. 310
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4237

Syllabus

<p>1. Shipping — Bills op Lading — Ratification op Unauthorized Issuance.</p> <p>A steamship company, whose agent has without authority issued bills of lading for goods then in a public warehouse, does not ratify such act and make the bills its own by receiving on board one of its vessels goods purporting to be those described in the bills, where by reason of a fraudulent substitution in the warehouse, of which it was ignorant, the goods actually delivered to it are not the same.</p> <p>2. Same.</p> <p>The unauthorized issuance by an agent of a steamship company of bills of lading to a purchaser for goods then in a public warehouse, subject to the orders of the seller, who is bound by the terms of the salé to deliver the same on board, does not bind the company, so as to make it responsible for the goods while in the warehouse and before their actual delivery into its custody; and even an acceptance of the goods on board ship is a ratification of the contract of carriage made by the bills of lading only from the time of such delivery.</p> <p>8. Same — Authentication op Bills op Lading.</p> <p>Bills of lading do not prove themselves, and the burden rests upon a shipper relying thereon to prove their execution by a duly authorized agent of the carrier.</p> <p>4, Same — Bill op Lading as Receipt — Conclusivenéss.</p> <p>A bill of lading is both a receipt and a contract of carriage, and as a receipt it is open to explanation.1</p> <p>5. Same — Carriage op Goods — Action for Nondelivery.</p> <p>In an action by a shipper against a steamship company for nondelivery of goods, the burden rests upon the plaintiff to prove delivery of the goods to defendant for carriage; and bills of lading, signed for the master, and acknowledging the receipt of goods on the ship, even though shown to have been executed by a duly authorized agent of defendant, are insufficient for that purpose, where plaintiff’s evidence further shows that when they were executed the goods had not been receiv