Brehme v. Dinsmore

Bartol, J., delivered the opinion .of this Court, The appellee, defendant below, was sued upon a contract made by it, as a .carrier, with the appellant for the transportation of a package of merchandise from the city of New York to Baltimore. The contract was evidenced by a printed receipt signed by the agent of the appellee and delivered to the appellant’s agent in New York, containing a stipulation that in no event “shall the holder hereof demand beyond the sum of fifty dollars, at which the article forwarded is hereby valued, unless otherwise herein expressed, or unless specially insured (by the company) and so specified in this receipt.” It was proved that the parcel when delivered to the appellee was enclosed in an oil-cloth wrapper, its contents were not visible and could not be known, and were not disclosed to tbe appellee or any statement of the value given, and no special insurance was made. The contents of the parcel were proved to be light and costly goods of the value of $075. It was admitted that the plaintiff ³³⁵ called on tbe defendant for tbe parcel, offering to pay freight,, bnf lias never received it, nor any account of what had become' of if, and lie claims in this action to recover its valué.

The Court, below, at the instance of the defendant, instruct ted the jury that the receipt constituted a special contract between the parties for the carriage of the package,- binding upon both, and that" tbe plaintiff could only recover hi this suit the sffm at which the package was valued in the receipt,, with interest thereon. In our opinion there was no error in this ruling. The right of carriers to restrict their common' law liability by