Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/644

 632 fedebaIj bbforteb. �have not gone beyond that; and the cases to which the court have been referred, so far as we have been able to examine them, are cases of bills oi lading or receipts by which the companies undertake to relieve themselves entirely from responsibility on account of negligence. This is a different case. It is a case in which the shipper bas entered into an agreement in writing by which he has said bis property is of a certain value, and that if it is more he will not be entitled to recover more than the value named. It is not, like most of the cases, inserted by a company in a receipt, but it is stipulated in the contract, signed by the shipper as well as by the agent of the company; and the only question here is whether a man who delivers live stock to a raiiroad com- pany, to be transported upon cars, has a right to stipulais with the company concerning the value of that property. �"There is another principle that enters into the subject, and that is this : that in cases wbere common carriers may limit their liability at all by contract, stipulation, or notice, there is this qualification, — that the limitations shall be rea- sonable and just in the eye of the law. Now, it seems to me — and in this Judge Treat agrees with me — that there is a good deal of justice in a stipulation of this kind. I do not see in it anything contrary to equity or fair dealing. We all know that ordinary men are not competent to judge of the value of blooded horses. Here, for instance, is a case which illustrates exaetly what I think is the purpose of such a stip- ulation: A man cornes along to a raiiroad company and says, ' Here is a horse I wish to ship from Jersey City to St. Louis.' He says nothing more. The animal, to all appear- ances, may be an ordinary animal, so far as an ordinary man would be able to judge. The party who ships him signs an agreement, which has printed in it, in large letters, a stipulation that, in case the horse is lost, he shall not be entitled to recover over $200, which is about the value of an ordinary horse. He is shipped and lost ; then the shipper claims he is worth $15,000, Ought he not to be bound to make known, — to give notice, — in such a case, of the value of the animal ? Yery likely the care that the transportation ��� �