Mackay v. Western Union Telegraph Co.
Nevada Supreme Court
Appeal from the District Court of tbe First Judicial District, Storey County. The facts sufficiently appear in the opinion. No damages beyond the price paid for sending the telegram were recoverable. The dispatch was in cipher, and absolutely unintelligible except to tbe person to whom it was sent. No explanation of its contents, or even of tbe nature of its subject-matter, was made to any of the defendant’s agents.
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Appeal from the District Court of tbe First Judicial District, Storey County. The facts sufficiently appear in the opinion. No damages beyond the price paid for sending the telegram were recoverable. The dispatch was in cipher, and absolutely unintelligible except to tbe person to whom it was sent. No explanation of its contents, or even of tbe nature of its subject-matter, was made to any of the defendant’s agents. Admitting that telegraph companies are, in a certain sense, common carriers, and subject to tbe general rules, as to obligation and liability, governing such carriers,…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
Belknap, J.:
The defendant corporation received from the plaintiff, at the City of Virginia, in this state, for transmission by telegraph to San Francisco, a message, in words unintelligible by themselves, but which the broker to whom it was addressed could have understood as an order to sell two hundred and fifty shares of Mexican mining stock in his hands, belonging to plaintiff. The message was delivered to defendant at about 1 o’clock P. M. of the fourteenth day of *225October, 1878, but through the negligent delay of defendant it was not received at its San Francisco office until…
2Cases cited9 opinions
- Baldwin v. . the United States Telegraph Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1871
- Leonard v. New York, Albany & Buffalo Electro Magnetic Telegraph Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1870
- Squire v. Western Union Telegraph Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
- Tyler, Ullman & Co. v. Western Union Telegraph Co.Illinois Supreme Court · 1871
- Beaupré v. Pacific & Atlantic Telegraph Co.Supreme Court of Minnesota · 1874
4 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by13 opinions
- Daughtery v. American Union Telegraph Co.Supreme Court of Alabama · 1883
- Williams v. Telegraph Co.Supreme Court of North Carolina · 1904
- Western Union Telegraph Co. v. WaySupreme Court of Alabama · 1887
- Johnson v. . R. R.Supreme Court of North Carolina · 1922
- Hadley v. Western Union Telegraph Co.Indiana Supreme Court · 1888
8 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.