Pan-Am Trade & Credit Corp. v. the Campfire

SWAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents the question whether the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 46 U.S.C.A. § 1300 et seq., invalidates a bill of lading provision for pro-rating in case of the partial loss by the carrier of a package to which the statute ascribes a value of $500. We are told that it is a case of first impression.

The facts were stipulated. On July 8, 1943 Pan-Am Trade & Credit Corporation, one of the libellants, delivered to the respondents as common carriers a package of rayon goods to be carried from the port of New York to the port of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The package was…