William O. Douglas

“ And even were we to assume without deciding that for the purposes of § 4283 privity as well as knowledge of an individual owner may be constructive rather than actual, it does not follow that Phipps should be barred from limiting his liability. One who selects competent men to store and inspect a vessel and who is not on notice as to the existence of any defect in it cannot be denied the benefit of the limitation as respects a loss incurred by an explosion during the period of storage, unless 'privity' or 'knowledge' are to become empty words. ”

“ But those cases are no authority for holding that the negligence of a subordinate may be imputed to an individual owner so as to place him in privity within the meaning of the statute. A corporation necessarily acts through human beings. The privity of some of those persons must be the privity of the corporation else it could always limit its liability. ”

“ Moody, 5 Cir., 22 F.2d 960; Flat-Top Fuel Co. v. Martin, 2 Cir., 85 F.2d 39; and see La Bourgogne, 210 U.S. 95, 122, 28 S.Ct. 664, 673, 52 L.Ed. 973; Richardson v. Harmon, 222 U.S. 96, 103, 32 S.Ct. 27, 29, 56 L.Ed. 110 ”