COMMON CARRIERS.

Common Carriers.-Such as carry goods for hire indifferently for all persons. The different express, railway, and freight-carrying steamship companies, truckmen, wagoners, carmen and porters, are common carriers.

Common Carriers are responsible for all loss or damage during transportation from whatever cause, except the act of God or the public enemy. See ACT OF GOD.

Carriers, when they undertake the general business of carrying every kind of goods, are bound to carry all who offer; and if they refuse, without just excuse, they are liable to an action. But they may restrict their business within such limits as they may deem expedient; and are not bound to accept goods out of the line of their usual busi

ness.

They may require freight to be paid in advance; and have a lien upon the goods for freight and for advances made to other carriers.

The Bill of Lading is generally the written evidence of the contract between the parties, and is expected to contain all the exemption from general responsibility which it is competent for the carrier to claim.

As between the immediate parties, the bill of lading is not conclusive as to the quantity or condition of the goods at the time of shipment, especially when there was no opportunity to inspect them. See BILL OF LADING.

Their Responsibility begins upon the delivery of the goods for immediate transportation. A delivery at the usual place of receiving freight, or to the employés of the company in the usual course of business, is sufficient. The responsibility terminates after the arrival of the goods at their destination, and a sufficient time has elapsed for the owner to receive them in business hours. After that, they may be placed in a warehouse, and the carrier is only responsible for ordinary care. See CARRIERS OF PASSENGERS.

COMMON LAW.

Common Law.-Common law frequently occurs in this work; and as its meaning is imperfectly understood by not a few merchants, farmers, mechanics and other unprofessional men, it is necessary to endeavor to make its meaning clear to all.

Common Law is that system of law, or form of the science of jurisprudence, which has prevailed in England and the United States of America, in contradistinction to other great systems, such as Roman or civil law.

Those principles, usages and rules of action, applicable to the government and security of persons and of property, which do not rest for their authority upon any express and positive declaration of the will of the legislature. (1 Kent's Com. 492.) The law of any country to denote that which is common to the whole country, in contradistinction to laws and customs of local application.

The most prominent characteristic which marks this contrast, and perhaps the source of the distinction, lies in the fact that in the common law, with the stiff rule of long antiquity on the one hand, nor on the other the sudden changes of a present arbitrary power, are allowed ascendancy, but under the sanction of a constitutional government each of these is set off against the other, so that the will of the people, as it is gathered from long-established custom, and from the expression of the legislative power, gradually forms a system; just, because it is the deliberative will of a free people; stable, because it is the growth of centuries; progressive, because it is amenable to constant revision of the people.

The phrase, "Common Law," is used in contradistinction to "statute law;" and to designate unwritten, as distinguished from written, law. It is that law which derives its force and authority from the universal consent and immemorial practice of the people. It has never received the sanction of the legislature by an express act, which is the

criterion by which it is distinguished by statute law. When it is spoken of as the lex non scripta, it is meant that it is law not written by the authority of the law. The statutes are the expression of law in a written form, which form is essential to the statute. The decision of a court which establishes or declares a rule of law, may be reduced to writing and published in the reports; but this report is not the law; it is only the evidence of the law; it is but the written account of one application of a legal principle, which principle, in the theory of the common law, is still unwritten. It is only by the legislative power that law can be bound by phraseology and by forms of expression. The common law eludes such bondage; its principles are not limited or hampered by the mere forms in which they may have been expressed, and the repeated adjudications declaring such principles are but the instances in which they have been applied. The principles themselves are still unwritten, and ready, with all the adaptability of truth, to meet every new and unexpected case. Hence it is said that the rules of the common law are flexible.

Legislative Action.-One of the first acts of the legislatures of California, Nevada and Idaho, was the passage of the following act:

"The common law of England, so far as it is not repugnant to or inconsistent with the constitution of the United States, or the constitution or laws of the state of California [Nevada, Idaho], shall be the rule of decision in all the courts of this state."

In this Country, when the courts inquire into a legal proposition, they first examine the statutes, and if they are silent on the subject under investigation, they turn to the common law as found in the law reports, and are governed by the law as there laid down.

COMMON NUISANCE.

Common Nuisance.-One which affects the public in general, and not merely some particular person. See NUI

SANCE

COMMUTATION.

Commutation.-The change of a punishment to which a person has been condemned, into a less severe one. This can only be granted by the executive authority, in which the pardoning power resides. See PARDONS.

COMPETENCY.

Competency.-The legal fitness or ability of a person to be heard on a trial of a cause. It also means the quality of evidence which renders it proper to be given on the trial of

a cause.

A Witness may be competent, and, on examination, his story may be so contradictory and improbable that he may not be believed; on the other hand, he may be incompetent, and yet be perfectly credible, if he were examined. See WITNESSES.

COMPLAINT.

Complaint. The allegation made to a proper officer that some person has been guilty of an offense against law. See MAGISTRATE.

The Written Statement of the plaintiff's cause of action, filed in a court of justice, on the commencement of a civil suit. The defendant's reply is his answer.

COMPROMISE.

Compromise.-An agreement made between two or more parties as a settlement of the matters in dispute between them. Such settlements are sustained in law. See CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS.

CONCEALMENT.

Concealment.-The improper suppression of any fact or

circumstance by one of the parties to a contract, from the other, which in justice ought to be known.

The Omission, by an applicant for insurance, to state facts known to him, material to the risks proposed to be insured against, or omission to state facts expressly inquired about by the underwriters, to whom application for insurance is made, whether the same are or not material to the risk. See INSURANCE.

Fraudulent Concealment avoids the contract, or renders the party using it liable for the damages arising in consequence thereof. The concealment must be of such facts as the party is bound to communicate. When confidence is

reposed, concealment becomes more fraudulent.

CONDITION.

Condition.-A clause in a contract, which has for its object to suspend, rescind or modify, the principal obligagation; or, in case of a will, to suspend, revoke or modify, the devise or bequest.

A Qualification or restriction annexed to a conveyance of lands, whereby it is provided, that in case a particular event does or does not happen, or in case the grantor or grantee does or omits to do a particular act, an estate shall commence, be enlarged or be defeated.

In Mortgages, a condition is inserted, providing that the conveyance shall be void, upon certain conditions therein named, as the payment of the same secured.

CONDONATION.

Condonation. The conditional forgiveness or remission by a husband or wife, of a matrimonial offense which the other has committed. Condonation is chiefly applied to the offense of adultery. As a general rule, any cohabitation with the guilty party, after the commission of the offense, and with knowledge or belief, on the part of the