Rates to be Offices or Warehouses. riers to demand and receive an increased Rate of Charge, to be notified by some Notice affixed in legible Character in some public and conspicuous Part of the Office, Warehouse, or other Notice of Receiving House where such Parcels or Packages are received increased by them for the Purpose of Conveyance, stating the increased affixed in Rates of Charge required to be paid over and above the ordinary Rate of Carriage, as a Compensation for the greater Risk and Care to be taken for the safe Conveyance of such valuable Articles; and all Persons sending or delivering Par- Parties cels or Packages containing such valuable Articles as afore- bound by said at such Office shall be bound by such Notice, without further Proof of the same having come to their Knowledge. such Notice. for such insurance the increased rate: 3. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That when carriers to the Value shall have been so declared, and the increased Rate give Receipts of Charge paid, or an Engagement to pay the same shall have Goods, acbeen accepted as herein-before mentioned, the Person receiv-knowledging ing such increased Rate of Charge or accepting such Agree- thereof by ment, shall, if thereto required, sign a Receipt for the Package or Parcel, acknowledging the same to have been insured, which In case of not Receipt shall not be liable to any Stamp Duty; and if such giving ReReceipt shall not be given when required, or such Notice as ing Notice, aforesaid shall not have been affixed, the Mail Contractor, Carrier, &c. Stage Coach Proprietor, or other Common Carrier as aforesaid, to shall not have or be entitled to any Benefit or Advantage under this Act, but shall be liable and responsible as at the Common Law, and be liable to refund the increased Rate of Charge. ceipt or affix not entitled benefit of this Act. not to limit of Carriers, generally. 4. Provided always, and be it enacted, That from and after Publication the First Day of September now next ensuing, no public Notice of Notices or Declaration heretofore made or hereafter to be made shall the Liability be deemed or construed to limit or in anywise affect the &c. in res Liability at Common Law of any such Mail Contractors, pect of Goods Stage Coach Proprietors, or other public Common Carriers as aforesaid, for or in respect of any Articles or Goods to be carried and conveyed by them; but that all and every such Mail Contractors, Stage Coach Proprietors, and other Common Carriers as aforesaid shall from and after the said First Day of September be liable, as at the Common Law, to answer for For a Form of Notice that may be adopted under this section, see post, under "Forms." Every Office used to be deemed a Receiving House, &c., One the Loss of any Injury to any Articles and Goods in respect whereof they may not be entitled to the Benefit of this Act, any public Notice or Declaration by them made and given contrary thereto, or in anywise limiting such Liability, notwithstanding. 5...For the Purposes of this Act, every Office, Warehouse, or Receiving House which shall be used or appointed by any Mail Contractor or Stage Coach Proprietor or other such Common Carrier as aforesaid, for the receiving of Parcels to be conveyed as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be the Receiving House, Warehouse, or Office of such Mail Contractor, Stage Coach Proprietor, or other Common Carrier; and any One or more of such Mail Contractors, Stage Coach Proprietors, or Common Carrier shall be liable to be sued by his, her, or their Name or Names only; and no Action or Suit commenced partners not to recover Damages for Loss or Injury to any Parcel, Package, or Person, shall abate for the Want of joining any Co-Proprietor or Co-Partner in such Mail, Stage Coach, or other public Conveyance by Land for Hire as aforesaid. and any Coach Proprietor or Carrier shall be liable to be sued, although named. Special Con tracts not to be affected. Parties re covering Da extia Charges. 6. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend or be construed to annul or in anywise affect any special Contract between such Mail Contractor, Stage Coach Proprietor, or Common Carrier, and any other Parties, for the Conveyance of Goods and Merchandises. 7. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That where any mages for Parcel or Package shall have been delivered at any such Office, Loss or Inand the Value and Contents declared as aforesaid, and the jury may also recover back increased Rate of Charges been paid, and such Parcels or Packages shall have been lost or damaged, the Party entitled to recover Damages in respect of such Loss or Damage shall also be entitled to recover back such increased Charges so paid as aforesaid, in Addition to the Value of such Parcel or Package. 8. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That nothing in protect felo- this Act shall be deemed to protect any Mail Contractor, Stage nious Acts by Coach Proprietor, or other Common Carrier for Hire, from LiaCarrier, &c. bility to answer for Loss or Injury to any Goods or Articles whatsoever arising from the felonious Acts of any Coachman, Guard, Book-keeper, Porter, or other Servant in his or their Employ, nor to protect any such Coachman, Guard, Book Nothing herein to Servants of Sic: "the Loss of or any Injury to"? Sic: "Carriers"? $2. not concluded value; of value, and keeper, or other Servant from Liability for any Loss or Injury occasioned by his or their own personal Neglect or Misconduct. 9. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That such Mail Carriers, &c. Contractors, Stage Coach Proprietors, or other Common Car- by declared riers for Hire shall not be concluded as to the Value of any but may resuch Parcel or Package, by the Value so declared as aforesaid; quire proof but that he or they shall in all Cases be entitled to require, liable only to from the Party suing in respect of any Loss or Injury, Proof Damages of the actual Value of the Contents, by the ordinary legal Evidence; and that the Mail Contractors, Stage Coach Proprietors, or other Common Carriers as aforesaid shail be liable to such Damages only as shall be so proved as aforesaid, not exceeding the declared Value, together with the increased Charges as before mentioneda. proved. Money may tions against 10...In all Actions to be brought against any such Mail be paid into Contractor, Stage Coach Proprietor, or other Common Carrier Court in Acas aforesaid, for the Loss of or Injury to any Goods delivered Carriers, &c. to be carried, whether the Value of such Goods shall have for Loss of been declared or not, it shall be lawful for the Defendant or Defendants to pay Money into Court, in the same Manner and with the same Effect as Money may be paid into Court in any other Action. Goods. 11...This Act shall be deemed and taken to be a Public Public Act. Act, and shall be judicially taken Notice of as such by all Judges, Justices, and others, without being specially pleaded. XVIII.-PASSENGER TAX. 5 & 6 VICT., CAP. 79. An Act to repeal the Duties payable on Stage Carriages and EXTRACTS, relating to Railways. This act recites the statutes 55 Geo. 3, c. 184,-2 & 3 Wm. 4, c. 120,-and 2 & 3 Vic. c. 66, imposing certain stamp and Duties on other duties, including a duty in respect of passengers by Railways imposed by the act of Wm. 4; and § 1 repeals, amongst others, "the aforesaid Duties granted and imposed "by the said Act passed in the Second and Third Years of "the Reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth,... "for and in respect of Passengers conveyed for Hire along any 'Railway in Great Britain." The act then enacts as follows. It applies to Great Britain only, and not to Ireland. "§2...In lieu of the Duties by this Act repealed, there shall be raised, levied, collected, and paid, unto and for the Use of Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, in and throughout Great Britain, for and in respect of every Licence for keeping, using, or employing any Stage Carriage in Great Britain, and for and in respect of every Stage Carriage, and for and in respect of the Passengers conveyed upon any Railway, and also for and in respect of the several Instruments, Matters, and Things mentioned and described in the Schedule to this Act annexed", or for or in respect of the Vellum, Parchment, or Paper upon which such Instruments, Matters, and Things, or any of them, shall be written or printed, the several Duties or Sums of Money set down in Figures against the same respectively, or otherwise specified and set forth in the same Schedule"; and that the said Schedule shall be deemed and taken to be a Part of this Act; and that all the said Duties shall be under the Care and Management of the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes for the Time being, and shall be denominated and deemed to be Stamp Duties." Section 3 relates not to Railways but to the description of Stamps and Dies, &c., to be used in certain cases. But under 7 & 8 Vic. c. 85, § 9, no tax is to be levied in respect of passengers conveyed at fares not exceeding a penny per mile by the cheap trains prescribed by § 6-10 of that act: (V. 9, p. 47). b Extract from Schedule, so far as relates to Railways, p. 239. e These duties are now under "the Commissioners of Inland Revenue." By an act of 1847, (11 & 12 Vic. c. 42,) the collection and management of the Duties in respect of Railway Passengers, and some others, were transferred (§ 1,) from the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes to the Commissioners of Excise, by whom and their Officers the powers and provisions relating to such duties were to be carried into effect (§ 2); and § 3 of the same act provided that Bonds and Securities previously given by Railway Companies, to pay and Railway of Passenger or other "§4...The Proprietor or Company of Proprietors of every Accounts to Railway in Great Britain, and every other Person who shall be kept by carry or convey, or cause to be carried or conveyed, any Pas- Companies senger for Hire in or upon any Railway in Great Britain, Receipts; shall from Time to Time and at all Times, keep and enter or cause to be entered in a Book or Books to be kept for that Purpose, in such Manner and Form as the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes" shall direct or approve, a just and true Account of all and every Sum and Sums of Money which shall be received or charged daily by or for such Proprietor or Company or other Person for the Hire, Fare, or Conveyance of all such Passengers as aforesaid, whether the same shall be whether for received for the Conveyance of Passengers on the Railway of their ow such Proprietor or Company or other Person only, or on such Railways; last-mentioned Railway and any other Railway, or on any such other Railway only, and for or in respect of all which Sums of Money the Duties charged by this Act shall, in manner herein-after directed, be paid by the said Proprietor or Company or other Person so receiving or charging the same as aforesaid, without any Deduction or Abatement thereout on any Account or Pretence whatever; and the Pro- and of Money prietor or Company of Proprietors of any Railway so receiving paid by or charging any such Sums of Money as aforesaid shall also to other in like Manner keep and enter or cause to be entered an for Pas Account of all Sums of Money paid or accounted for, or to be sengers: paid or accounted for, by such Proprietor or Company to the Proprietor or Company of Proprietors of any other Railway (specifying the same) upon which any of such Passengers shall be carried or conveyed, as his or their Share or Proportion of any such Sums of Money so received or charged as aforesaid, or as or for or in the Nature of Toll or otherwise for the Use account for such duties, should be equally applicable and remain in force after the transfer of the duties to the Excise Commissioners. By a subsequent act of 1849 (12 Vic. c. 1) the Boards of Excise and of Stamps and Taxes are consolidated into one Board, styled "the Commissioners of Inland Revenue," (§ 1); and all the Powers and Authorities vested in the two previous Boards are to be exercised by the latter (§ 3). Provision is made (in 817) for the interpretation accordingly, of all Bonds and Securities previously given, as if given to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue and their officers. a See note, suprâ. See act regulating the Railway Clearing House System, which has been established mainly for such purposes as those here described, for the settlement of traffic accounts between different companies: 13 & 14 Vic. cap. xxxiii. (post, XXXI.) Companies Companies |