Babcock v. May
Ohio Supreme Court
This was an action of assumpsit, brought against the defendants, as owners of the schooner America, to recover the value of two hundred and five barrels of salt, shipped on board the America, at Buffalo, in the State of New York, tobe delivered at Cleveland, in the State of Ohio, and which was lost upon Lake Erie.
Read the full summary
This was an action of assumpsit, brought against the defendants, as owners of the schooner America, to recover the value of two hundred and five barrels of salt, shipped on board the America, at Buffalo, in the State of New York, tobe delivered at Cleveland, in the State of Ohio, and which was lost upon Lake Erie. Upon the trial, before the Supreme Court, in the county of Cuyahoga, the plaintiff offered in evidence the following bill of lading: “ No. 197. Shipped in good order, and well conditioned, by S. Thompson & Co., on board the schooner called the America, whereof is master, for this…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court :
That a receipt maybe explained by parol evidence is a principle too familiar to require authorities for its support. The bill of lading is a contract including a receipt. It is a contract admitting *316the reception of certain goods, with an agreement to carry them to the port of discharge; and the only doubt in the case is, whether the terms of this agreement, as reduced to writing, in the bill of lading, can be varied by parol. If the actual reception of the salt by the master, was the. point in controversy, a different question would be presented. Such a case might come within…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Renner v. Bank of ColumbiaSupreme Court of the United States · 1824
- Rockwell v. BradleySupreme Court of Connecticut · 1816
- Weston v. United StatesU.S. Circuit Court for the District of District of Columbia · 1838