One who undertakes for hire or reward to transport the goods of any who may choose to employ him, from place to place.
Common carriers are generally of two descriptions, namely carriers by land and carriers by water.
Carriers by water are the masters and owners of ships and steamboats engaged in the transportation of goods for persons generally for hire and lightermen, hoymen, barge-owners, ferrymen, canal boatmen and others employed in like manner are so considered. By the common law a common carrier is generally liable for all losses which may occur to property entrusted to his charge in the course of business, unless he can prove the loss happened in consequence of the act of God, or of the enemies of the United States, or by the act of the owner of the property. In respect to carriers by land the rule of the common law seems every where admitted in its full rigor in the states governed by the jurisprudence of the common law. Louisiana follows the doctrine of the civil law in her code. The like reasoning applies to packet ships and steam-boats, which ply between different ports, and are accustomed to carry merchandise as well as passengers.