Mr Swaffield sent his horse by railway to a station at Sandy. The horse arrived late at night, and the railway company lodged the horse overnight for their own account at a livery stable. Mr Swaffield failed to collect it on the following morning. The only basis on which he was prepared to give any instructions about the fate of his horse was that the railway company assumed all responsibility for storing and delivering it to him from the time of its arrival at Sandy. After four months of this, the railway company lost patience. They unilaterally delivered the horse to Mr Swaffield’s farm and then sued him for the livery charges to date.
Held: The contract of carriage had come to an end on the day after the arrival of the horse at Sandy, when the performance required of them as carriers was completed. Baron Pollock drew attention to Cargo ex Argos in the course of argument and based his judgment upon it. Having referred to previous authority to the effect that the railway company was bound to take reasonable care of the horse notwithstanding the termination of the contract of carriage, he observed that ‘if there were that duty without the correlative right, it would be a manifest injustice.’
Non-delivery for causes arising subsequent to the consignee’s mora is more easily excusable than before.
Kelly CB, concurring treated the principle as applying because it was necessary for the railway company to incur the expenditure. ‘They had no choice unless they would leave the horse at the station or in the high road to his own danger and the danger of other people.’
Baron Pollock, Kelly CB
(1874) LR 9 Ex 132, [1874] UKLawRpExch 17
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Gaudet Geipel and Others v Brown (The Ex Cargo Argos) PC 18-Feb-1873
Petrol was shipped in London on the Argos under a bill of lading to deliver at Le Havre. It arrived in the later stages of the Franco-Prussian war, when the port was full of munitions, and the landing of flammable cargoes was forbidden. The master . .
Cited by:
Cited – Petroleo Brasileiro Sa v Ene Kos 1 Ltd (‘The MT Kos’) SC 2-May-2012
The MT Kos had been chartered by the appellants. The respondents failed to make payments, and notice was given to withdraw the vessel. The contract said that such a notice was without prejudice to any claim. At the time, the vessel was laden. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Agency, Contract
Leading Case
Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.462939