much force as is necessary to eject a passenger who refuses to pay his fare or who acts disorderly.

In England and in New York and some other states, a carrier may limit by contract its liability to a passenger for the negligence of its servants. The United States Supreme Court and the courts of most American jurisdictions hold such contracts void as against public policy, but the United States Supreme Court permits a contract limiting the carrier's liability where the passenger is carried gratuitously.

234. Regulations imposed by carriers.-Passenger rates are usually fixed by statute or by the charter of the carrier, and where not so fixed the customary or a reasonable rate may be charged. The rate must be uniform to all persons of the same class riding under the same conditions.

A carrier may require the purchase of a ticket and may eject persons who fail to comply with this rule or may charge a higher fare on the conveyance. Passengers, however, must be given reasonable opportunities to procure tickets, and if the ticket office is not open a reasonable time before the schedule time for departure, the passenger may ride at the lower fare and sue the carrier for damages if ejected for refusal to pay a higher rate. A passenger who refuses or is unable to produce his ticket may be required to pay the full rate. If he refuses to do this, he may be ejected. Printed stipulations on a ticket do not constitute a contract between the carrier and a passenger unless they are brought to the attention of the passenger at the time the ticket is accepted.

As between the passenger and a conductor, the ticket is conclusive evidence of the extent of the passenger's rights. One may not ride from X to Y if the ticket

reads from Y to X, nor may the passenger ride to Z beyond X. If any mistake is made by the ticket agent, the passenger should pay his fare, take a receipt and recover from the carrier all the damages proximately caused by the error of the ticket agent.

All persons in proper condition and ready, able and willing to pay their fare must be accepted by the carrier if there is room in the conveyance. All passengers of a certain class are entitled to equal accommodations, but separate cars may be provided for persons of different sex and color. A passenger is entitled to a seat. If no seat is furnished, he may not ride free, however, but must leave the train at the first reasonable opportunity. He may then sue the carrier for the proximate damages caused by the carrier's breach of its contract to furnish a seat.

235. Baggage.-Each passenger is entitled to carry a reasonable amount of baggage including such articles of necessity or convenience as the passenger may take along for his personal use. Unless the carrier's liability is limited by lawful contract, it is responsible as an insurer for all baggage delivered into its custody. In deciding the question of the responsibility of a carrier for baggage, it must be determined whether the articles lost or injured were really the baggage of the passenger, whether they were delivered into the custody of the carrier, and whether there was any lawful contract limiting the liability of the carrier.

EXAMPLES

256. A, a traveling salesman, delivered to a railroad as baggage a trunk containing samples of his goods. These were held not to be articles for the personal use of the passenger, for which the carrier would be liable as an insurer.

It is understood, of course, that A could have paid special freight for the transportation of his samples, in which case the carrier would become a carrier of goods and liable as such.

257. B started on a vacation trip and took with him guns, golf stick and fishing tackle. Inasmuch as these articles were for the personal use of B in connection with his journey, they were held to be baggage.

258. C left a hand-bag in her seat in a train when she went into the dining car. When she returned she found the hand-bag had been stolen. The carrier cannot be held liable for this loss because the hand-bag was not delivered into the custody of the carrier.

236. Sleeping cars.-Sleeping cars are not innkeepers nor are they common carriers as to the baggage and valuables of passengers. The railroad company remains the carrier, but the sleeping car furnishes the sleeping accommodations and it is bound to furnish reasonable protection by having an employé watch the berths of its passengers to protect them from theft and from insult. The sleeping car company is bound to furnish its accommodations, if any are left, to any person in proper condition who offers to pay the regular fare at a proper time and place.

237. Time tables.-While a carrier of passengers does not warrant the speed of its conveyances, it is liable for proximate damages resulting from inexcusable delay in carrying out its public schedule. The time tables may be changed from time to time, but the new tables should be published as openly as the old tables.

238. Passenger elevators.-The owners of public or semi-public buildings in which passenger elevators are operated are bound to carry safely all passengers who use the elevator, with the utmost caution, diligence and skill. They will be liable for injury to passengers for

the slightest neglect in the construction, operation or repair of the elevator.

239. Telegraph and telephone companies.-While telegraph and telephone companies have been held in a few jurisdictions to be common carriers, they are looked upon by most courts as companies rendering a public service. They. do not insure the prompt delivery and accuracy of messages, but are bound to use reasonable care. They are liable for ordinary negligence, and may assume, for added compensation, the extraordinary liability of insurers. They are bound to serve all persons indiscriminately and at uniform rates.

Telegraph and telephone companies may limit their liability by contract except against negligence, and in those jurisdictions where a common carrier may contract against negligence, these quasi-common carriers are also permitted to make such contracts.

Telegraph companies may be sued by either the sender or the addressee of a message for damages arising from the negligence of the company, but for breach of contract only the sender may sue, unless the sender was actually the agent of the addressee in whose behalf the contract was made. In New York and many other states, clerks, operators, messengers and other employés who willfully divulge the contents of a message to anyone but the person for whom it was intended, are guilty of a criminal offense.

CHAPTER XIV

INSURANCE

240. Definitions.-A contract of insurance is an agreement whereby one party for a consideration, usually paid in money either at one time or at stated periods during the continuance of the risk, promises to make a certain payment of money in the event of the destruction or injury of something in which the other party has an interest. Insurance, as a system, is based on the distribution of damages suffered by a few amongst many, whose interests are subject to similar risks.

A perfect system of insurance would give every member who lost, the exact amount of his loss, and would take from all the members just enough to pay all the losses and the expenses of collection, administration and distribution. The amount which each member would pay under this perfect system of insurance would be proportioned to the comparative imminence of his risk and the amount of damage he would suffer in case of loss. Such a perfect system of insurance could be devised only after all the losses had occurred, but it has been found that the difficulty of collecting the proportionate shares of the losses from those who have escaped loss during a given past period is so great that scientific calculations are upset and the burden of losses is likely to be very unevenly distributed amongst those who should bear them. For this reason the assessment form of insurance is being discarded for the premium form.