UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE
CHARNOCK V. TEXAS & PACIFIC RY. CO., 194 U. S. 432 (1904)
194 U. S. 432U.S. Supreme Court
Charnock v. Texas & Pacific Ry. Co., 194 U.S. 432 (1904)
Charnock v. Texas and Pacific Railway Company
No. 194
Argued April 8, 1904
Decided May 16, 1904
194 U.S. 432
Syllabus
Negligence has always relation to the circumstances in which one is placed, and what an ordinarily prudent man would do or omit in such circumstances.
The failure to keep a watchman and fire apparatus at a switch track plantation clubjuris
station, maintained for ten years for the convenience of shippers, who thereby were saved the expense of sending their cotton two and a half miles to a regular station and who never demanded the additional protection, no accident or fire occurring during such period, is not negligence on the part of the carrier, and, in the absence of any evidence whatever as to the origin of the fire, justifies the direction of a verdict for defendant.
Cau v. Texas & Pacific Railway Co., ante, p. 194 U. S. 427, followed as to conditions under which a common carrier may limit its liability against damages to goods by fire.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the court. clubjuris