Carriers are those who undertake the carrying of goods from place to place by land and sea. In many parts of the East, carrying is done mainly by camels, in South America by llamas, in various parts of Europe by mules and pack-horses (see CAMEL). In England and Scotland, after the pack-horse came the one-horse cart and the four-wheeled wagon, which until the opening of canals, and especially of railways, was the universal means of land-conveyance, and the carrying-trade became by degrees an immense organisation. Canals largely superseded wagons towards the end of the 18th century (see CANALS); and railways soon reduced canals to a very humble share in the business of carrying, even for such goods as minerals, coal, bricks, manure, and the like bulky goods of no great value. Railways still imply a vast amount of work for horses, wagons, carts, lorries, and men in bringing goods from the senders to the trains, and in delivering them to the consignees on their arrival at the nearest railway station. Even when the railways undertake the whole business of receiving and delivering the goods, they frequently employ the men and horses of companies quite independent of themselves. The name of Pickford was famous before the days of railways, and is famous still. At the present time, the tendency is for the companies to take the responsibility of the whole conveyance, the carriers acting as their agents, if willing so to do, or else endeavouring to maintain a fair competition. The goods-vans traversing the streets of the metropolis and other great towns are now more frequently inscribed with the names of railway companies than with those of private carriers. There are parcels delivery companies, and special developments of carrying, such as vans for removing furniture, which are themselves transported by rail. The introduction of the Parcel Post system (1883) has in some respects revolutionised the carrying-trade in Britain. In America the carrying trade is largely in the hands of separate organisations, the Express Companies, who have special arrangements with the railways, and take all responsibility. Such Companies sometimes have the goods-traffic of a railway in their hands.
In Law, a carrier is one who offers to the public to convey passengers, or goods, from one place to another, for hire. The offer must be general—for a private person who contracts with another for carriage, is not a carrier in the legal sense, and does not incur the peculiar responsibilities which, in almost every country, it has been found expedient to attach to the occupation of a public or common carrier. Carriage, in law, is thus a peculiar modification of the contract of hiring. The contract may be express, depending on the terms of any agreement permitted by law, or implied from the status of a common carrier who has received goods of the kind which he professes to carry. Such goods he is not entitled to refuse unless they are dangerous, or by reason of popular tumult, or unless he has no convenient means of carrying them, or if they are not brought in time for packing, or delivered in a state insecure and unfit for carriage. The vehicle must be sufficient for safe carriage, and the carrier is bound properly to pack. The regular course of the journey must be followed, and perishable goods must be forwarded with reasonable speed. The carrier should give notice, when receiving the goods, of any known unusual cause of delay. In Rome, the responsibilities of carriers by water were regulated by a pratorian edict, which was applicable also to innkeepers and stablers; and from that edict the law of carriage in modern Europe has been mainly borrowed, sometimes directly, as in Scotland, sometimes indirectly, as in England. The ground on which the edict increased the responsibilities attaching to an ordinary contract of hiring was, that the persons whom it enumerated were under peculiar temptations to consort, either personally or through their servants, with thieves or robbers, without the connection being such as to admit of proof. This responsibility in our own law extends not only to the acts of the carrier's servants, but also to those of the guests of an inn, or the passengers in a conveyance. The only exception to this liability at common law is in the case of loss arising from the Act of God (q.v.) or the King's enemies—i.e. the fury of the elements, or war. Neither robbery nor theft is regarded as an inevitable accident.
But there are several limitations imposed by the Carriers Act, 1830, and the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1856. The liability for gold and silver, and articles of unusual value, is restricted to £10, unless the extra value has been previously stated and paid for as insurance against the greater risk (18 Vict. chap. 31); and the proof of value is laid on the person claiming compensation. On the other hand, it is provided that railway and canal companies shall be liable for neglect or default in the carriage of goods, animals, &c.; notwithstanding any notice or condition or declaration made by the company, for the purpose of limiting their liability. But the statute permits 'just and reasonable' conditions to be imposed. It also declares that all special contracts about the carriage of goods must be signed. A specimen of what is regarded as a reasonable condition is that, in the case of perishable goods, the company shall not be liable for loss of market and delay in transit. The Act of 1856 also compels the companies to give fair all-round facilities as regards transit and through rates, and not to give undue preference to particular traders. The decisions of the courts have also somewhat limited the universal responsibility of the carrier. For example, it has been decided that he is not liable, qua carrier (and the same applies to an innkeeper), for money taken from the pockets of the traveller; but that, if the money has been taken from the pockets of clothes which have been stolen, or from trunks which have been broken into, his responsibility comes into operation. For the functions of the Railway Commissioners, and for the conveyance of passengers, see RAILWAYS.
Under carrier are included carters and porters, who offer themselves for hire, to carry goods from one part of a city to another. Whether the same be the case with hackney-coachmen is more doubtful. Wharfingers and warehousemen are liable only under the special contracts into which they may have entered, or in accordance with mercantile usage. Carriers are liable to make good to the owners of goods intrusted to them all losses arising from accidental fire. This rule was introduced into Scotland by the Mercantile Law Amendment Act of 1856. Carriers have a lien upon the goods they have carried for payment of the carriage only. The lien is, however, restricted to the particular goods to which the carriage refers, and ceases on possession of them having been given up. It does not cover any other account or balance due either by the sender or consignee to the carrier.
In the United States, carriers are treated as (1) carriers without hire; (2) carriers for hire, but not common carriers; and (3) common carriers. Those who carry without hire are held to ordinary care and diligence in performance of the undertaking; the confidence reposed in them being a sufficient consideration to create this liability. The second class, which may be termed private carriers or bailees for hire, are held to a greater degree of responsibility; they are held to such diligence as every prudent man commonly takes of his own goods, and are responsible for that ordinary negligence which is a want of such diligence. The liability of this private carrier depends upon a difference of facts, rather than a difference of legal principles; and may be increased or diminished by a special contract, which does not, however, change his character as carrier.
A common carrier, one who undertakes to carry passengers or goods for all who apply and agree to the lawful terms he prescribes, and who is liable to an action for damages if he refuses, is an agent for the public, and as such is held to extraordinary care in the discharge of his public duty. The Inter-state Commerce Act of Congress of February 4, 1887, prohibits common carriers from discriminating, in the transportation of passengers or property, between persons or places, and lays down much the same rules as regards undue preference and equal facilities as the British Act of 1856. It also prohibits charges which are not just and reasonable. It compels common carriers to print and make public 'the rates, fares, and charges for transportation of passengers and property;' and forbids combinations among common carriers to prevent the carriage of freights from being continuous from the place of shipment to the place of destination.
This act created an Inter-state Commerce Commission, consisting of five members appointed by the president, by and with the advice of the senate, and clothed them with authority, with the usual powers, to inquire into the management of the business of every public carrier not confined to a single state. The act gives this commission extensive power to hear complaints and investigate the same, and to decide disputes, and to make the necessary regulations in the public interest. In fact, it closely resembles the British Railway Commission. See RAILWAYS. This law does not interfere with the legislative jurisdiction of the states within their own territory. The land carriage is generally subject to municipal law, and the Federal Courts have jurisdiction by virtue of the citizenship of the parties, while the carriage by water, as a branch of the Maritime and Admiralty jurisdiction, is properly in the United States or Federal courts.
In the United States it has been decided that sleeping-car companies are not responsible for effects carried by their passengers. Otherwise, the responsibility of carriers is the same in the United States as in Great Britain.