The House of Lords has finally decided that a carrying
Company cannot advertise itself out of its legal liabilities. To secure an exemption there must be a special contract with the individual passenger or sender of goods, and he must be shown to have been a consenting party. Lieu- tenant Stevenson, for example, passenger on board the 'Countess of Eglinton,' was wrecked and lost his luggage. He sued the owners, and negligence was proved, but defend- ants appealed, on the ground of a special contract on the back of the ticket. The House of Lords,—that is, Lords Hatherley, Chelmsford, Cairns, and O'Haganr- decided that there was not proof of reading, that a pas- senger could not be held bound to look at the back of his ticket, and that the judgment of the Court below, the Second Division of the Court of Session in Scotland, must be confirmed. Three of the Lords indeed went a little further, and appeared to demand a contract other than any implied in words even on the face of the ticket, for they said they regarded the ticket "as a mere receipt for passage-money." The judgment might be hard on a company which, for example, was asked for the value of a jewel-case, when it had advertised that it would not carry jewels unless specially insured, but it is absolutelyneedful to deny corpora- tions the right of advertising themselves out of the law. Railway Companies might print across their tickets an announcement that they would not be responsible for the safety of their passengers' bones.
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