Ex Parte Alabama Great Southern R. Co.
Ex Parte Alabama Great Southern R. Co.
Opinion of the Court
In Emerson v. Central of Georgia Railroad Co., 196 Ala. 280, 284, 72 South. 120, L. R. A. 1916F, 120, where the statement is made that the statute is imperative that the schedule of established rates, fares, and charges must be filed by tbe common carrier with the Railroad Commission (Code, §§ 5521-5523, inclusive), that the .carrier, is prohibited from charging any other rates or amounts than those specified in such schedules of joint rates as may from time to time be lawfully in force (Code, § 5527), and may not discriminate (sections 5531, 5532), and that recovery may be had for overcharges, penalties, and forfeitures (sections 5553-5555), the duty of a common carrier in the transportation of passengers and property was the subject of controversy.
The foregoing sections of the Code have an appropriate place as a part of article 6 (page 1358 et seq., vol. 2), providing for regulation of railroads and common carriers, especially regulation of the rates that may be charged by railroads as common carriers in tbe transportation of passengers and property.
Analogous authorities are to the effect that there are services and rentals for which the defendant railroad company is not liable when not in the discharge of its duty as a common carrier. Kennedy Bros. v. Mobile & G. R. R. Co., 74 Ala. 430; Ala. Gt. Sou. R. R. Co. v. Grabfelder & Co., 83 Ala. 300, 3 South. 432; Ala. Gt. Sou. R. R. Co. v. Mt. Vernon Co., 84 Ala. 173, 4 South. 356; Mt. Vernon Co. v. Alabama G. S. Ry. Co., 92 Ala. 295, 8 South. 687; S. F. P. & R. R. R. Co. v. Grant Bros. Const. Co., 228 U. S. 177, 33 Sup. Ct. 474, 57 L. Ed. 787; B. & O. S. W. Ry. Co. v. Voigt, 176 U. S. 498, 20 Sup. Ct. 385, 44 L. Ed. 560; Memphis & L. R. R. Co. v. Sou. Exp. Co., 117 U. S. 1, 6 Sup. Ct. 542, 628, 29 L. Ed. 791; 4 Elliott on Railroads, § 1396. In Alabama Great Southern v. Mt. Vernon Co., supra, and St. Louis & San Francisco v. Cavender, 170 Ala. 601, 605, 54 South. 54, and Central of Georgia v. Sigma Lumber Co., 170 Ala. 637, 54 South. 205, Ann. Cas. 1912D, 965, where goods were delivered to a common carrier for transportation, but no shipping directions were given, or something remained to be done by the shippers, it was held that the railroad company was not liable for loss or damage to the goods as a common carrier — distinguishing between the duty. of the company as a common carrier and as a bailee. The cases of Alabama Great Southern v. Grabfelder, supra, Kennedy Bros. v. Mobile & Girard, supra, and Collins v. Alabama Great Southern, 104 Ala. 390, 16 South. 140, distinguish between the duty of the railroad company as a common carrier and that as a warehouseman — that the company could not be held as a common carrier after the transportation and delivery of goods in its warehouse and notice given to consignee, and the lapse of a reasonable time for its removal by the consignee. L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Hestle, 200 Ala. 137, 75 South. 885; James v. Ala. Gt. Sou. R. R. Co., 202 Ala. 640, 81 South. 582. The federal authorities cited also distinguish the duties of a railroad company as a common carrier from other duties assumed or undertaken to be discharged in another capacity. That is to say, where the right to contract for the performance, in a different capacity from that which rests upon the railroad company as a public or common carrier, is.not ultra vires, it may contract for the doing of such act or the discharge of such service in such other or private capacity. Cent. R. R. & B. Co. v. Lampley, 76 Ala. 357, 52 Am. Rep. 334; Liverpool & G. W. S. Co. v. Phenix Ins. Co., 129 U. S. 397, 9 Sup. Ct. 469, 32 L. Ed. 788; M. & L. R. R. Co. v. Sou. Exp. Co., supra; Railroad Co. v. Lockwood, 17 Wall. (U. S.) 357, 21 L. Ed. 627; 4 Elliott on Railroads (2d Ed.) § 1396, and authorities collected; L. R. A. 1915A, 377, note.
It follows from the above that there was error in overruling defendant’s motion for a new trial. The writ is awarded; the( judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded to the Court of Appeals for further consideration in accordance with this opinion.
Writ granted, and reversed and remanded.
Reference
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- Ex Parte Alabama Great Southern R. Co. Alabama Great Southern R. Co. v. Wood.
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