Edward Douglass White

“ To assert that, because there is a liability arising from the application of the statute to the bill of lading which would not result from the bill of lading itself, therefore the statute must necessarily have been held to impose on the carrier a liability for an interstate shipment beyond its own line, is without merit. True, if there had been no statute regulating the form of the bill of lading, and we were called upon to construe the instrument, we might consider that the limitations referred to in the contract restricted the liability of the carrier to his own line. ”

“ That is to say, that the restraint imposed by the statute was not a curtailment of the power to limit liability to the line of the carrier accepting the freight, but a regulation of the form in which the contract having that object in view should be drawn.
Considering the statute as thus interpreted by the supreme court of the state of Missouri, it cannot be held to be repugnant to the constitution of the United States. The subject of the power of the states to legislate as to the mere form of contracts for interstate commerce carriage was fully considered in Richmond & A. R. Co. ”

“ Whenever any property is received by a common carrier to be transferred from one place to another, within or without this state, or when a railroad or other transportation company issues receipts or bills of lading in this state, the common carrier, railroad or transportation company issuing such bill of lading shall be liable for any loss, damage or injury to such property, caused by its negligence or the negligence of any other common carrier, railroad or transportation company to which such property may be delivered, or over whose line such property may pass ”