Southern Railway Co. v. Prescott

Citations

• 240 U.S. 632
• 36 S. Ct. 469
• 60 L. Ed. 836
• 1916 U.S. LEXIS 1493

Syllabus

<p>Whether the contract based on a bill of lading of an interstate shipment issued pursuant to the Act to Regulate Commerce has been discharged is a Federal question.</p> <p>Transportation, as regulated by the Act to Regulate Commerce, includes the services of a connecting carrier as warehouseman of the goods after arrival at point of destination and before actual delivery to the consignee.</p> <p>Retention by the carrier of part of an interstate shipment, after arrival at destination, 4‘otice to, and payment of the freight by, the consignee, held in this case to be a terminal service forming part of the transportation in the sense of, and governed by,'the Act to Regulate Commerce.</p> <p>With respect to service governéd by the Act to Regulate. Commerce, the rule that both carrier and shipper are bound by, and cannot alter, the terms of service as fixed by the filed regulations, applies not only to rates but also to other stipulations relating to services and facilities within the purview of the act, including liability as warehouseman after arrival of the goods at destination and before removal by the consignee.</p> <p>The contract of a bill of lading of an interstate shipment is still in forcé until actual delivery to the consignee; and held that the mere giving of a receipt by the consignee and payment of freight but leaving the goods with the carrier did not, in this ease, amount to actual delivery and affect the liability of the carrier under the stipulations as to liability contained in the bill of lading.</p> <p>The measure of liability of a carrier of an interstate shipment under the bill of lading issued pursuant to the Act to Regulate Commerce is a Federal question and the obligation is to be governed under the Act by uniform rale in the place of the diverse requirements of state legislation and decisions; nor is the question less a Federal one because resolved by application of general principles of common law.</p> <p>Under a stipulation in a bill of ladi