Central of Georgia Ry. Co. v. State ex rel. Attorney General
Central of Georgia Ry. Co. v. State ex rel. Attorney General
Opinion of the Court
Just what showing the official delivering the shipment must make to compel the carrier to receive same we need not determine. It is sufficient to say that the presentation to the carrier of a written order or direction for the transportation of same from the court issuing the process under which it is seized, or the court to which an appeal may be taken, should suffice, especially from one point to another in the same county.
Reversed and rendered.
Concurring Opinion
(concurring). — I agree that mandamus will not lie in the case made by this record; but I do not concur in that part of the opinion which intimates that it would lie, if certain matters were shown. If the liquors sought to be shipped are contraband, and the carriage of them by a common carrier, as such, is by law prohibited, then for a court to compel their carriage by a common carrier would be to compel the carrier to violate the law. I agree that the carriage, movement, and possession of the prohibited liquors, by the officers and agencies of the law, in the execution of the law, is not within the prohibitions of the statutes as to the carriage or possession of the prohibited liquors or contraband goods; and, consequently, if a common carrier chooses to aid the officers of the law in transporting and handling such liquors, for the purpose and to the end of enforcing the law, that the common carrier so acting as an agency of the. law would not be liable as for a violation of the same law as to carrying or possessing such prohibited liquors. Its possession and transportation, in such case, would be by the carrier, acting in the capacity of an agency of the law itself, and not in its normal capacity of common carrier. Any person or common carrier
The mere fact that an officer of the law has a writ for- the seizure of certain liquors, and that the writ directs him to bring them to the court is not sufficient to justify any one but the officer to whom it is directed, or such officer’s agents, to take the action. It is no mandate to, or authority for, strangers to the process to possess, receive, or carry. If third parties, including common carriers, decline to act as the agents of. the officers executing the writ, and therefore coming within its protection, mandamus will not lie, to compel them so tp act as his agents.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Central of Georgia Ry. Co. v. State, ex rel. Attorney General
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- Published