Page:Henry Osborn Taylor, A Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations (5th ed, 1905).djvu/374

 § 371.] THE LAW OF PRIVATE CORPORATIONS. [CHAP. VII. have been avoided by using due care. 1 Common carriers are not chargeable, in cases free from suspicion with notice of the contents of packages carried by them, nor are they authorized in such cases to require information as to the contents. Under such circumstances it is not negligence for a carrier to handle a package in the usual way, and when it appears damaged to bring it into his place of business for examination ; accordingly, if a package containing a dangerous substance, of which the carrier has no knowledge, explodes, injuring premises leased by him, he will not be liable for the damage to his lessor. 2 The measure of care which should be observed by a carrier against accident to premises leased by him, is the care which a person of ordinary prudence and caution would use in his affairs. 3 The responsibility of a corporation for injuries caused by the acts or omissions of its servants may be les- sened by the fact that the injured person was a tres- passer at the time when the injury occurred ; or by the fact that he contributed to his injury by his own negligence. These two facts often conjoin. § 371. Except at public crossings, where the public has a right of way, a railroad company has the exclusive right to its track, trestle-works, and bridges ; and ac- cordingly (it has been held) any person walking on the track is a trespasser, who cannot hold the company liable § 370. Liability ; when les- sened. Trespass- ers. 1 Railroad Co. v. Skinner, 19 Pa. St. 298; Continental Improvement Co. v. Phelps, 47 Mich. 299; Perkins v. Eastern R. R. Co., 29 Me. 307; Price v. New Jersey R. R. Co., 31 N. J. L. 229; Knight v. New Orleans, etc., R. R. Co., 15 La. Ann. 105; Oilman, etc., R. R. Co. v. Spencer, 76 111. 192; see Illinois Cent. R. R. Co. v. Phelps, 29 111. 447; Galpin v. Chicago and N. W. R'y Co., 19 Wis. 604; Brown v. Hannibal, etc., R. R. Co., 33 Mo. 309. Compare North Penn. R. R. Co. v. Rehman, 49 Pa. St. 101; Munger v. Tonawanda R. R. Co., 4 N. Y. 349. Throughout the states of the Union, railroad corapa- 354 nies are now required by statutes to fence their roads, and if they fail in this duty, are generally liable for cattle killed on their tracks. 2 Nitro-Glycerine Case, 15 Wall. 524. Compare Boston and Albany R. R. Co. v. Shanly, 107 Mass. 568. The defendants, at their own ex- pense, repaired the portions of the premises occupied by them; as they were bound to do under the terms of their lease; and it was for damage done by the explosion to other por- tions of the same premises that the court absolved them from liability. 3 Nytro-Glycerine Case, supra.