James Schumacher, age 14, of Lake Charles, La., for his question:
WHAT IS A COMMON CARRIER?
A common carrier is any person or agency publicly engaged in the business of transporting passengers or freight by land, water or air. By extension and legislative enactment, the term also applies to public utility and public service companies.
Common carriers include railroads, steamships, airlines, buses, trucks, freight forwarders, express companies, teamsters, truckers, operators of pipelines and telephone, telegraph and satellite communication companies. In the United States most are federally regulated.
With the exception of airlines, all common carriers engaged in transportation of freight and passengers in interstate commerce are regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The commission has extensive powers, including the authority to establish minimum and maximum transportation rates and charges, to prohibit discriminating against communities by the common carriers and to approve or reject proposed mergers of carriers.
Authority over waterborne carriers is vested in the Federal Maritime Commission. Those engaged in air transportation are under the jurisdiction of the Civil Aeronautics Board and the Federal Communications Commission regulates communications companies.
Control of common carriers engaged in intrastate operations falls within the jurisdiction of the various states.
Because of the special responsibilities of the common carrier to the community, persons or agencies engaged in the transportation of goods have been subjected by common law to two stringent obligations. First, service is compulsory, that is, it must be provided for all, without discrimination. Second, the carrier is liable for loss of or injury to the goods entrusted to it, whether or not it is guilty of negligence.
Common carrier engaged in the transportation of passengers are bound to carry them to their destination with reasonable dispatch and, as with the transportation of goods, they must provide such service for all, without discrimination.
It is commonly stated that carriers are responsible for any loss or damage from any cause "except the act of God or of the public enemy." An act of God means only an inevitable accident that occurs without the intervention of a human agency. The term "public enemy" is applied to any government engaged in an act of war or public hostility against the government of the common carrier.
In addition to these exemptions, the carrier is not responsible for losses occurring because of acts of the government or through defaults on the part of the shipper, or for losses resulting from the inherent nature of the goods for example, those caused by the ordinary decay of perishable articles.
Like the carrier of goods, the carrier of passengers usually limits liability by notice or stipulation printed on the ticket. The carrier, however, is not exempt from liability for negligence with respect to the safety of the passengers.
The carrier is completely responsible for baggage entrusted to its care.