RAILWAY COMPANIES AS CARRIERS OF HORSES, 123 



entrusting it to tlie carrier, the carrier is not liable for the loss. 

 This liability attaches as soon as the horse is delivered to and 

 received by the carrier, («) and it continues till the consignee 

 had, or might have had, an opportunity of removing it. (6) 

 The general rules applicable in the case of a common carrier 

 by sea (c) are these : — " Where a shipowner receives goods to 

 be carried for reward, whether in a general ship with goods 

 of other shippers, or in a chartered ship whose services are 

 entirely at the disposal of the one freighter, it is, apart from 

 express contract, implied at common law, that he is to carry 

 and deliver the goods in safety, answering for all loss or 

 damage which may happen to them while they are in his 

 hands as carrier, unless that has been caused by some act of 

 God, or of the Queen's enemies, or of some defect or infirmity 

 of the goods themselves, (c?) or through a voluntary sacrifice 

 for the general safety. And those exceptions are not to 

 excuse him if he has not been reasonably careful to avoid or 

 guard against the cause of loss or damage, or has met with 

 it after a departure from, his proper course, or if the loss or 

 damage has been due to some unfitness of the ship to receive 

 the cargo, or to unseaworthiness which existed when she 

 commenced her voyage, "(e) 



94. Railw^ay Companies as Carriers of Horses. — Railway 

 companies may or may not be common carriers of live animals. 

 If they hold themselves out to be so they are, and they may 

 assume the responsibilities of a common carrier if they 

 choose to do so. Under the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 

 1854, while they are not common carriers of goods which 

 they do not profess to carry,(/) railway and canal companies 



(a) §§ 96, 97. 



(6) § 106, and cases there cited. 



(c) See also § 116. 



(d) This applies to carriers by water within the kingdom such as hoymen, and 

 carriers by canal. Also to ships carrying for the public generally, whether on 

 coasting voyages or not, Carver, § 3. 



(c) Carver, § 22. 



(/) OxUide V. N.-E. Ry. Co., 1857, 1 C.B., N.S. 454, 498 ; Richardson v. N.-E. 

 Rtj. Co., 1872, I,. If. 7C.P. 75. 



