Sullivan v. Thompson
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Contract against the proprietors of Harnden’s Express for the value of a box of clothing intrusted to them at Boston for transportation to Washington in the District of Columbia. Answer, that the box was duly delivered in conformity with the defendants’ contract.
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Contract against the proprietors of Harnden’s Express for the value of a box of clothing intrusted to them at Boston for transportation to Washington in the District of Columbia. Answer, that the box was duly delivered in conformity with the defendants’ contract. At the trial in the superior court, before Wilkinson, J., these facts appeared: The plaintiff was in the military service of the United States, and employed in a bakery of the commissary department of the army, on the corner of 23d and G Streets in Washington, where, at the time in question, from ninety to a hundred men were employed…
1Opinion of the CourtChapman, C. J.
The business of carrying goods by express is a branch of the carrying trade that has recently sprung up, and its rapid extension and increase is evidence of its great importance to the community. Sometimes expressmen act as carriers, and sometimes as forwarders, and sometimes they transport goods in vessels or other vehicles over which they have no control, but employ a servant of their own to take special charge of the goods. It is not necessary in this case to consider how far the responsibility of an express company may be varied when they act as carriers in their own vehicles, or in…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Packard v. EarleMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1873
- Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co. v. TuiteAppellate Court of Illinois · 1892
- Southern Express Co. v. VanMeterSupreme Court of Florida · 1880