David Josiah Brewer

“ Is it not reasonable to hold that Congress,-having in mind the duty of carriers in reference to transportation and delivery, their customary lien for charges, and their right to retain possession during transit,-in directing the custom house officers to take goods out of a carrier's possession, inspect and hold until the duties are paid, intended that, upon payment, the government lien should pass to the carrier, with a view of enabling it to discharge its duty of carriage and delivery to the consignee? ”

“ The question in fact presented and decided was not simply the scope and applicability of the doctrine of subrogation, but rather to what extent, considering the obligations cast by the revenue laws and the duties of common carriers as between themselves and the shipper, the carrier was protected by the laws of the United States in paying custom duties exacted under them. When we stop to consider the great volume of imports handled almost exclusively by common carriers, the owners or consignees being often in the interior of the country, this is obviously a question of supreme importance. ”

“ As when a railway, in the transportation of live stock, as cattle, horses, and swine, has been at expense of labor and money in feeding and preserving them, such expense is a legitimate charge in addition to their transportation. For the carrier is under special obligation to guard and protect such property, hence the propriety of a lien for such extraordinary expense and care. If a carrier, in the ordinary course of the business, pay back charges upon goods due to another carrier in the course of transportation, as they come to him, he may recover for such back charges and freight so paid ”