Baird v. St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co.

41 F. 592, 1890 U.S. App. LEXIS 2051

• Court: U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern Arkansas
• Decided: March 18, 1890
• Status: Published

Opinion

Caldwell, J.,

(after stating the facts as above.) The bill of lading was filled up by the consignors, and signed by the railroad company, on the faith that the consignors had stated truly the weight of the machinery. Either fraudulently or by mistake, the consignors stated the weight of the machinery to be 5,550 pounds less than it was. The contention of the plaintiff is that by a statute of this state he is entitled to profit by this fraud or mistake; that, under the statute, a bill of lading-procured by fraud or mistake is as binding and obligatory as one honestly procured. Of course, the statute is not susceptible of such a construction. The statute was passed to prevent fraud, not to promote it; to punish fraud, not to sanction it. If the hill of lading, by the fraud or mistake of the railroad company, had stated the weight of the machinery to be twice as great as it was, the attitude of the plaintiff would not be what it now is; and yet, if frauds and mistakes in bills of lading are to stand as absolute verity, the rule ought to be mutual, and bind the consignee as well as the carrier. This case, probably, furnishes the first example of a party coming into a court of justice and boldly claiming a benefit from a confessed fraud or mistake. The through rate of freight is stated in the bill of lading to be 45 cents per 100 pounds. That is the material part of the bill of lading on the subject of the freight to be paid for transporting the machinery. In the language of the statute, that is the “sum for transporting said freight * * * specified in the bill of lading.” About that there was a contract. There was no contract about the weight of the freight. The weight of the freight is settled by the scales, and not by contract. Bills of lading are frequently issued before the weight of the freight is known. It is not necessary to the issuance of a bill of lading that it should be known. The freight rate is fixed when the rate per 100 pounds is agreed om Weighing the freight is purely a mechanical process. It may be done at the point of shipment, or at the point of delivery, or both. One hundred pounds in New Orleans is 100 pounds in Little Rock; neither more nor less. Where, as in this ease, the weight of the merchandise is uniformly the same, the. carrier or the consignee may ask to have the weight verified up to the moment of delivery. It is the weight disclosed by the scales, and not the weight marked on the bill of lading, that controls. The machinery weighed 25,550 pounds, and no agreement of the parties could add to or diminish this weight, nor could it be varied by fraud or by mistake.

But, if the act of the legislature would admit of the construction contended for by plaintiff, it would avail him nothing. The shipment of this freight from New Orleans to Little Rock was interstate commerce, and the act of congress is controlling. It is not necessary to quote that act. It is sufficient to say that if the defendant had delivered, and the plaintiff received, this freight, with knowledge of the facts as they are set out in the agreed statement of facts, the agent of the defendant making the delivery, the plaintiff, and the consignors, if they had knowledge of the facts, would have been guilty of a flagrant violation of the interstate commerce act, and rendered themselves liable to a criminal prosecution. Let judgment be entered for the defendant for a return of the property or its value, and for costs.