Harlan F. Stone

“ And we think that the restriction of the vicarious liability of the principal adopted by the court below is supported no more by reason than by authority. Undoubtedly formal logic may find something to criticize in a rule which fastens on the principal liability for the acts of his agent, done without the principal's knowledge or consent and to which his own negligence has not contributed. But few doctrines of the law are more firmly established or more in harmony with accepted notions of social policy than that of the liability of the principal without fault of his own. ”

“ But respondent's liability here is not predicated on the agent's authority to issue bills, which, so far as appears, he did not have, but upon his authority to notify petitioner of the arrival or nonarrival of the merchandise, which he clearly did have. Congress, by enlarging in a Bills of Lading Act the implied authority of an agent to issue bills of lading, can hardly be said to have dealt by implication with a general rule of liability applicable in other classes of transactions not involving bills of lading. ”

“ But, as we accept and apply the rule, despite those objections, we can find no justification for an exception which is inconsistent both with the rule itself and the underlying policy which has created and perpetuated it. ”