LIMITATION OF CARRIERS' RESPOXSIBILITY. 137 



is no doubt tliat the horse was the immediate cause of its 

 own injuries. That is to say, no person got into the box and 

 injured it. It sKpped, or fell, or kicked, or plunged, or in 

 some way hurt itself If it did so from no other cause than 

 its inherent propensities, ' its proper vice ' — that is to say, 

 from fright, or temper, or struggling to keej) its legs — the 

 defendants are not liable. But if it so hurt itself from the 

 defendants' negligence, or any misfortune happening to the 

 train, though not through any negligence of the defendants 

 — as, for instance, from the horse-box leaving the line owing 

 to some obstruction maliciously put upon it — then the 

 defendants would, as insurers, be liable."(a) Where the 

 vice, however, is brought out by the negligence or 

 fault of a railway or shipping company, the liability 

 attaches.(6) 



110. Limitation of Carriers' Responsibility under 

 Statute. — Under various statutes the common law responsi- 

 bilities of common carriers have to a certain extent been 

 limited. By the Carriers Act of 1830, (c) common carriers 

 were exempted from liability for injury to certain goods when 

 their value exceeded £10, unless their description and value 

 were declared, and an increased charge, according to notice, 

 paid at the commencement of the carriage ; but special 

 contracts Avere not affected by this Act;(c?) and this excep- 

 tion led to the abuse of carriers being able to contract them- 

 selves out of almost all liability whatever. By § 4, common 

 carriers could no longer by public notice limit their responsi- 

 bility in respect of articles not within the Act ; and, accord- 

 ingly, they were liable to the full value of the loss to horses 

 injured or lost in transit. These defects were removed by 



(a) Kendall v. L. tfc S.-W. Ry. Co., 1872, L.R. 7 Ex. 373, 377. 

 (6) GiU V. M. S. d: L. Ry. Co., 1873, L.R. 8 Q.B. 186. 



(c) 11 Geo. IV. and 1 Will. IV. c. 68, § 1. 



(d) Ihid. § 6. 



