Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/693

* STONYHUKST COLLEGE. 507 STOPPER. In 1840 it became alliliated with the University of London. Henceforth the seience.s were intro- duced and the curriculum which was based on the Katio .Studiorium (q.v. ) was generally en- larged. The regular course of study covers a period of seven years. STONY POINT. A town in Rockland County, N. v.. o.) miles north of New Vork City, on the Hudson River, and on the West Shore Railroad (Map: Xew York. F 4). Population, in 1890, 4614: in 1900, 41G1. Stony Point was fortified by the Americans early in the Revolutionary War and was captured on May 31, 1779. by Sir Henry Clinton. On .July 10th it was recaptured by General Anthony Wayne, who, with 1200 men, stormed the works and took 543 prisoners, the American loss being 1.5 killed and 83 wound- ed, and the British G3 killed besides the ]iris- oners, among whom the wounded were included. Two days later the fortifications were dis- mantled and the place abandoned, the British reoccupying it soon afterwards. The site of the Revolutionary foi't and battlefield has been con- verted into an historical reservation which was formally opened in 1902. Consult .Johnston, The Stoniiinfj of Stonij Point (New York, 1900). STOPPAGE IN TRANSITU. The stoppage by an unpaid seller of goods while on their way from him to the buyer, after title has passed to the latter. The right s'o to stop goods is not founded on any contract between the parties, nor upon any principle of equity, but upon mercan- tile usaye. Its first recognition in the judicial reports of England appears in an equity case de- cided in 1690. Prior to this it was a well-estab- lished rule of the law merchant (q.v.). From courts of equity it was adopted by the courts of common law, and for three centuries has been a recognized rule of English jurisprudence. The term 'unpaid seller' is here employed in a broad sense. It includes not only the ordinary seller, but the factor of the I)uyer, who has paid for goods placed to his credit for the price — any one, indeed, whose position can be shown to be analo- gous to that of an ordinary seller, who is unjiaid either wholly or in part. The second requisite is that the buyer shall have become insolvent, and that the knowledge of this insolvency shall have come to the seller after dispatching the goods. Insolvency, in this connection, is used in its popular sense, meaning the tinancial condition of one who cannot pay his debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business : and if he lets his commercial papers go to protest, or by other conduct affords the ordinary opponent evidence of insolvency, the unpaid seller is safe in treating him as insolvent. The third requisite is that the goods shall have left the possession of the seller, but shall not have reached the possession of the buyer— that they shall be in transit. The transit begins as soon as they have left the seller's possession for transportation to the buyer. It continues as long as they are in the possession of a carrier, or other middleman, on their way to the buyer. "Such middleman may be the buyer's agent for certain purposes; and yet if, by the agreemcjit of the parties or by the usage of trade, he is not a mere servant of the buyer, but is a person inter- posed between the seller and the buyer, having a possession of his own and liable, in his capacity as bailee, to an action by the buyer, in case the goods are carelessly lost or misdelivered, the goods are still in transit." Such transit may be intercepted by a new and distinct agreement be- tween the carrier and the buyer, under which the carrier is thereafter to hold the goods subject to new orders from the buyer. It is not inter- cepted, however, by the levy of an e.Kecution or an attachment on the goods on behalf of a cred- itor of the buyer. Such a levy gives the creditor only the right of the buyer; and that right is subject to the unpaid vendor's right to stop the goods. If a bill of lading (q.v.) has been given to the buyer by the seller, its transfer to a bona /ide purchaser cuts oil' the seller's right. This comes from the ijuasi negotiable character of the bill of lading under the law merchant. Although no particular form of notice is re- quired, a valid stoppage in transitu cannot be made without a notice of some kind to the car- rier. If the goods are in the hands of an agent of the carrier, notice that the seller stops the goods may be given to either the agent or the principal. If given to the latter it must be given at such time and under such circumstances that the principal, by the exercise of reasonable dili- gence, may communicate it to the agent in time to prevent a delivery to the buyer. The exercise of this right restores to the seller the possession of the goods, but does not revest title in him. The bu3'er or his transferee is entitled to the goods upon paying cash for them, but not other'ise. STOPPER. A short length of rope or chain or an iron contrivance used on board ship for STOPPER FOB ROPE. a. Rope stopper. b. Rope held by the stopper. c. Point where a. gripe b. d. Loose end of a. This is usually held in place by a man until the stopper a is removed from b. checking the running of a rope or chain, or for holding it firmly. A stopper for ropes is a short