Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-03-07

| III business on CuSnnOC HPlgntS.
At the last meeting of the Law Club, the
following opinions were given by Mr.. Orville
ID. Baker, on the question-is a steamboat
company liable for $3.50 stolen during the
night, from one of their passengers when
asleep in his birth? The following conclu-
sion was arrived at, emitting the argument:
/. By the rery act of becoming a passen-
ger, man delivers into the custody of the
carrier lis person and all his baggage, which,
as a traveller he may reasonably take, pro-
yided he disposes of his baggage after he is
Railway and Canal cases AZ. and ! DAILY,
1913.
=. There is Iii stinction between baggage
and articles the person of the traveller,
and it is presumed in law that man who
carries goods about his person, in hotel or
in ordinary conyeyances; in the light of day,
| with his eyes open and senses alert, has
them in that exclusive custody which makes
him alone responsible. See Eng. case above,
| l Ireland, Is. c. Il. 439, and Hill, As.
Irritation of the quasi innkeeper he has
yielded to sleep and his senses are overcome,
in the very nature Of the case he can no
longer exercise that personal custody over
his money, which will alone relieve the Com
pany from their liability. If he accepts their
invitation at ALL and sleeps, he must do so,
relying on their implied promise to guard him
while he sleeps. Accordingly all innkeepers
have been held liable for money stolen from
their guests under these circumstances. q,
Gushing AZ Readfield on Carriers and Inn
keepers 465-73, II Illinois 1908.
/. SO far as the steamboat company per-
forms the offices of innkeepers, i. e. feeds and
lodges their guests, they are subject to the
| no difference whether the inn is on the land,
and moving at the same rate as the earth, or
on the water and moving little faster. 8
Am. law Reg 239, DAILY 1913.
The authority in So Me. $50 though of
course binding in this State while it stands,
| appears at variance with the principle of au-
| thorites in other States, and tends, it may
seem, to impair all mutual confidence be-
tween carrier and carried
The other case presented is this A policy
of insurance expires at II, noon. Ten min
utes previous the building took fire, and at y
the flames had destroyed the value of 500 in
| labor and material. The fire, continuing,
consumed the building. How is the liability
of the insurers TO be estimated:
at is one of the most fundamental princi-
Piles of insurance law, that in order to make
the insurers liable for any loss, it must be
shown to have taken place within the limits of
the risk as ascertained by the policy" ,
| Arnold on Insurance 151.
! Clearly, then, the damage must be esti-
mated as it was at II o'clock, the time when
the policy expired. An estimate Of damages
is always mainly question of fact and the
only point of law here to determine is, what
shall be considered in making the estimate.
Is it simply the amount of material which has
been destroyed up to this time of u, or is it
all the dminution of value which the build
ing has thus sustained from the fire within its
| walls?
We are of opinion that it is more fairly the
latter. Such We apprehend to be the fair and
liberal rule of law. The application of it to
any given case would depend on all the vary
ing facts of the case. The jury are to station
themselves in imagination before the burn
ing building at the moment the policy expired.
| Then they are to mingle all the circumstances,
such as the length of time the fire has ragged,
its extent, and all the conditions on which its
further progress depends these would be the
materials which compose the building the
direction and strength of the wind, the con-
dition of the weather, and the means at hand
for the extinguishment of the flames. Then,
weighing all the risks, they are to decide, as
prudent men would do in doubtful security,
what per cent of its original value is it still
worth This deducted from the original
value of the property would give the amount
for which the insurers, in our opinion, would
be liable.
| DIR, Hebbard.