The goods of the defendants in error were lost by a connecting carrier to whom they had been safely delivered. Though received for a point beyond its own line, and for a point on the line of a succeeding carrier, there was no agreement for their safe carriage beyond the line of the plaintiff in error, but, upon the contrary, an express agreement that the initial carrier should not be liable for 'a loss or damage not occurring on its own portion of the route.' Such a provision is not a contract for exemption from a carrier's liability as such, but a provision making plain that it did not assume the obligation of a carrier beyond its own line, and that each succeeding carrier in the route was but the agent of the shipper for a continuance of the transportation. It is therefore obvious that at the common law an initial carrier under such a state of facts would not be liable for a loss through the fault of a connecting carrier to whom it had, in due course, safely delivered the goods for further transportation. Ogdensburg & L. C. R. Co. v. Pratt, 22 Wall. 123, 22 L. ed. 827; Myrick v. Michigan C. R. Co. 107 U.S. 102, 27 L. ed. 325, 1 Sup. Ct. Rep. 425; Southern P. R. Co. v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 200 U.S. 536, 554, 50 L. ed. 585, 593, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 330. Liability is confessedly dependent upon the provision of the act of Congress regulating commerce between the states, known as the Carmack amendment of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat. at L. 584, 595, chap. 3591, U.S.C.omp. Stat. Supp. 1909, pp. 1149, 1166). The 20th section of the act of February 4, 1887 (24 Stat. at L. 379, chap. 104, U.S.C.omp. Stat. 1901, p. 3154), as changed by the Carmack amendment, reads as follows:
'That any common carrier, railroad, or transportation company receiving property for transportation from a point in one state to a point in another state shall issue a receipt or bill of lading therefor, and shall be liable to the lawful holder thereof for any loss, damage, or injury to such property, caused by it or by any common carrier, railroad, or transportation company to which such property may be delivered, or over whose line or lines such property may pass, and no contract, receipt, rule, or regulation shall exempt such common carrier, railroad, or transportation company from the liability hereby imposed. Provided, that nothing in this section shall deprive any holder of such receipt or bill of lading of any remedy or right of action which he has under existing law.
'That the common carrier, railroad, or transportation company issuing such receipt or bill of lading shall be entitled to recover from the common carrier, railroad, or transportation company on whose line the loss, damage, or injury shall have been sustained, the amount of such loss, damage, or injury as it may be required to pay to the owners of such property, as may be evidenced by any receipt, judgment, or transcript thereof.'
The power of Congress to enact this legislation has been denied, first, because it is said to deprive the carrier and the shipper of their common-law power to make a just and reasonable contract in respect to goods to be carried to points beyond the line of the interstate carrier; and, second, that in casting liability upon the initial carrier for loss or damage upon the line of a connecting carrier, the former is deprived of its property without due process of law.
The indisputable effect of the Carmack amendment is to hold the initial carrier engaged in interstate commerce and 'receiving property for transportation from a point in one state to a point in another state' as having contracted for through carriage to the point of destination, using the lines of connecting carriers as its agents.
Independently of the Carmack amendment the carrier, when tendered property for such transportation, might elect to contract to carry to destination, in which case it necessarily agreed to do so through the agency of other and independent carriers in the line; or, it might elect to carry safely over its own lines only, and then deliver to the next carrier, who would then become the agent of the shipper. In the first case the receiving carrier's liability as carrier extends over the whole route, for, on obvious grounds, the principal is liable for the acts of its agent. In the other case its carrier liability ends at its own terminal, and its further liability is merely that of a forwarder. Having this power to make the one or the other contract, the only question which has occasioned a conflict in the decided cases was whether it, in the particular case, made the one or the other.