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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0285 and id is 1 raw text is: 3RANLEY V. THE SOUTH EASTERN RLY. CO. 12 C. B. (N. S.) 64.
to use the highway of the Thames therefrom either to Greenwich or elsewhere at
their free will and pleasure, either by wherries or steamer.
It follows that no right of the plaintiffs is shewn to have been infringed by the
defendants, and that the defendants are entitled to our judgment.
Judgment for the defendant.
13RANLEY v. THE SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY. May 12th, 1862.
[S. C. 31 L. J. C. P. 286; 6 L. T. 458; 9 Jur. N. S. 329. Referred to, Great Western
Railway v. Sutton, 1869, L. R. 4 H. L. 237.]
The legality of a contract is determined by the lex loci contractus.-A railway company
incorporated for the conveyance of passengers and goods from London to Folkstone
under acts of parliament which prohibited them from making unequal charges,
obtained another act enabling them to establish a communication by steam-vessels
with Boulogne, which last-mentioned act contained no provision as to equality of
rates for the carriage of goods. There was nothing in the law of France which
disabled the company as public carriers from making such contracts for that purpose
as they might think most for their own interest. The company by their tariff
charged certain rates for small parcels, with a double charge for packed parcels :
-Held that, so far as regarded the contract for the carriage of such parcels from
Boulogne to London, there was nothing illegal in this increased charge.
rhis was an action brought against the South Eastern Railway Company to recover
back sums alleged to have been improperly exacted by them from the plaintiff for the
carriage of parcels from Boulogne to London.
The declaration consisted of a count for money received and for money found due
upon accounts stated. The defendants pleaded never indebted.
The cause was tried before Erle, C. J., at the sittings in London after last Trinity
Term, when the following facts appeared in evidence :-The plaintiff is a carrier whose
business it is to collect small parcels at Boulogne, to be forwarded to London, viA
Folkstone, by means of what are called packed parcels addressed to Messrs. Wheatley
& Co., Leadenhall Street, London, [64] and to receive in like manner parcels from
London for distribution at Boulogne. The defendants are a railway company also carry-
ing on business as carriers from London to Dover and Folkstone under the authority
of the 6 W. 4, c lxxv., and several subsequent statutes (a), and also carrying on a
communication by means of steam-vessels between the ports of Folkstone and Dover,
and those of Boulogne and Calais, under the authority of the 16 & 17 Viet. c. clvi.
By the 17th section of one of their acts, 2 Viet. c. xlii., the company were bound
to charge to all persons alike for the conveyance of the like goods under the like cir-
cumstances (b); and by their tariff, which was put in, a certain scale of charges was
provided for parcels and packages up to the weight of 112lbs., with an intimation that
packed parcels would be charged [65] double those rates. The company's right to
this increased charge for packed parcels was negatived by this court in the case of
(a) The 7 W. 4 & 1 Vict. c. xciii., 2 & 3 Vict. c. xlii., 2 & 3 Vict. c. lxxix., 3 & 4
Viet. c. xlvi., 5 & 6 Vict. Sess. 2, c. iii., 6 & 7 Vict. cc. li., lii., and lxii., 7 & 8 Vict.
cc. xxv., lxix., and xci., 8 & 9 Vict. cc. clxvii., clxxxvi., cxcvii., and cc., 9 & 10 Viet.
cc. lv., lvi., & lxiv., cccv., and cccxxxix., 10 & 11 Vict. c6. civ. and ccxxx., 13 & 14
Viet. c. xxxi., and 15 Vict. c. ciii.
(b) 'he charges by the said recited acts or either of them authorized to be made
for the carriage of any passengers, goods, animals, or other matters or things to be
conveyed by the said company, or for the use of any steam-power or carriage to be
supplied by the said company, shall be at all times charged equally to all persons, and
after the same rate per mile, or per ton per mile, in respect of all passengers, and of
all goods, animals, or carriages of a like description, and conveyed or propelled by a
like carriage or engine passing on the same portion of the line; and no reduction or
advance in any charge for conveyance by the said company, or for the use of any
locomotive power to be supplied by them, shall be made either directly or indirectly
in favour of or against any particular company or person travelling upon or using the
same portion of the said railway.
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