Southern Railway Co. v. Moore

67 S.E. 85, 133 Ga. 806, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 70
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 17, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 67 S.E. 85 (Southern Railway Co. v. Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southern Railway Co. v. Moore, 67 S.E. 85, 133 Ga. 806, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 70 (Ga. 1910).

Opinions

Lumpkin, J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.) The principal question in this case is whether the remedy provided by the act of August 23, 1905 (Acts 1905, p. 120), and the rule of the railroad commission in pursuance thereof, operate to repeal or abrogate the common-law right of a shipper to bring an action against a railroad company as a common carrier for a negligent failure or refusal to furnish cars for the transportation of freight within a reasonable time after notice; or whether they furnish a cumulative remedy, so that a shipper may pursue the one remedy or the other. The second section of the act reads as follows: “That whenever a shipper or consignor shall require of a railroad company the placing of a car or cars to be used in car-load shipments, then, in order for the consignor or shipper to avail himself of the forfeitures or penalties prescribed by the rules and regulations of said Railroad Commission, it must first appear that such shipper or consignor made written application for said car or cars to said railroad; provided further, that such Eailroad Commission shall, by reasonable rules and regulations, provide the time within which said ear or cars shall be furnished after being ordered as aforesaid, and the penalty per day per car to be paid by said railroad company in the event such car or cars are not furnished as ordered; and provided [809]*809further, that in order for any shipper or consignor to avail himself of the penalties provided by the rules and regulations of said Kailroad Commission, such shipper or consignor shall likewise be subject, under proper rules to be fixed by said Commission, to the orders, rules, and regulations of said Kailroad Commission.”

1. In 26 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law, 671, it is said: “A statute instituting a new remedy for an existing right does not take away a pre-existing remedy, without express words or necessary implication; the new remedy is cumulative, and either may be pursued. But when the statute gives a right or remedy which did not exist at common law, and provides a specific method of enforcing it, the mode of procedure provided by the statute is exclusive and must be pursued strictly. . . Where a statute which creates a duty or liability provides no form of action or mode by which it may be enforced, the right to an appropriate action is implied in favor of the party in whose behalf the duty or liability arises.” Numerous authorities are cited in the notes in support of the text. In President etc. of Farmers’ Turnpike Road v. Coventry, 10 Johns. (N. Y.) 389, it was held that though a penalty was provided by a turnpike act for injuring or destroying toll gates, yet the company could bring an action of trespass at common law for such injury to their property. In Maine, by the act of 1821, it was declared that if any person or persons should wilfully, maliciously, or contrary to law take up, remove, break down, dig under, or otherwise injure any part of a certain canal (previously named), or any work connected with or appertaining thereto, such person for such offense should forfeit and pay to such corporation a sum not less than fifty dollars, nor more than five thousand dollars, and should further be liable to indictment for the trespass. It was held that this act did not take away from the corporation the common-law remedy of trespass quare clausum fregit. Cumberland & Oxford Canal Corporation v. Hitchings, 59 Me. 206. In Hill v. Missouri Pacific Ky. Co., 49 Mo. 520, it was held that a statute providing for the recovery of “single damage” against railroad companies for the killing of stock did not provide an exclusive remedy, but was cumulative, and did not displace the common law in the situation to which it applied. In Dygert v. Schenck, 23 Wend. (N. Y.) 446 (35 Am. D. 575), it was held that a statute providing for treble damages under certain circumstances did not prevent an ordinary [810]*810action for damages to redress the injury. In Richardson v. People’s Life & Accident Ins. Co., 92 S. W. 284, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky held that when a statute gives a new right and prescribes an adequate remedy for its enforcement, the prescribed remedy is exclusive; but where a right exists at law or in equity, a statute giving a new remedy gives a cumulative remedy merely. See also People v. Craycroft, 2 Cal. 243 (56 Am. D. 331); Troy v. Cheshire R. Co., 23 N. H. 83 (55 Am. D. 177); Swarthout v. New Jersey Steamboat Co., 48 N. Y. 209 (8 Am. R. 541); Lang v. Scott, 1 Blackford, 405 (12 Am. D. 257); Crittenden v. Wilson, 5 Cowen, 165 (15 Am. D. 462); Jordan and Skaneateles Plankroad Co. v. Morley, 23 N. Y. 552; Donnell v. Jones, 13 Ala. 490 (48 Am. D. 59); Narramore v. Cleveland etc. Ry. Co., 96 Fed. 298 (48 L. R. A. 68). There is nothing in the decisions of Jones v. Stewart, 117 Ga. 977 (44 S. E. 879), and Brewer v. Nutt, 118 Ga. 257 (45 S. E. 269), in conflict with the current of authority above indicated. The former case arose under an act of the legislature which required dealers in "futures” to register and pay a license tax or occupation tax, making it a misdemeanor to engage in that business without having done so, and providing that one half of the fine imposed should be applied to the payment of the tax. Three of the Justices held, that, as it was made criminal to begin business at all before registering and paying the tax, this and other terms of the act negatived the idea that the tax-collector could issue an execution against one who did business in violation of the law, and that the remedy provided by the statute was exclusive. Two of the Justices dissented, and the sixth was absent. The second case mentioned was similar in kind, except that the specific tax involved was that imposed on dealers in malt liquors. The Justices were divided in opinion, as in the former ease. Neither one of these cases involved the repeal of any right of action existing at common law in favor of one person against another. The whole system of imposing specific taxes and requiring registration of occupations, and the mode of enforcing such requirements by summary execution or by prosecution, is legislative and statutory in character, both as to the right and the remedy. The case of Gorman v. Hammond, 28 Ga. 85, was also in relation to the enforcement of returning property for taxation.

In North Carolina the General Assembly enacted a statute which [811]*811prescribed a forfeiture of $25 per day for delay of local shipments beyond five days after the receipt of goods by a railroad company. It was held by the Supreme Court of that State that this did not exclude the right to bring-an action for damages for a breach of the common-law duty of the carrier. Branch v. Wilmington etc. R. Co., 77 N. C. 347. In Florida the legislature conferred upon the railroad commission the authority to make a rule on the subject of what is called “reciprocal demurrage,” in terms less explicit than those employed in our statute.

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Bluebook (online)
67 S.E. 85, 133 Ga. 806, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-railway-co-v-moore-ga-1910.