carrier
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 359 U.S. 297 - Robert Herd Company v. Krawill Machinery Corporation · 1959Most cited · 655 citing opinions
The Act defines the term 'carrier' to include 'the owner or the charterer who enters into a contract of carriage with the shipper.
How the Supreme Court has restated “carrier”
Each Supreme Court definition of “carrier,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “carrier”
Court decisions citing the 4 opinions that defined “carrier” — 1,303 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 4 definitions, chronological · 1863–1959
- ORIGINAL
they are carriers, and as such are liable for the safe custody, due transport, and right delivery of the goods or merchandise which they receive and undertake to transport, and nothing can discharge them from the obligation of the undertaking, as specified in the bill of lading, but the excepted perils, or the act of God, or the public enemy
maritime
A carrier is not an insurer, though often loosely so called. The extent of his responsibility may be equal to that of an insurer, and even greater, but its nature is not the same. His contract is not one for indemnity, independent of the care and custody of the goods. He is not entitled to a cession of the remains of the property, or to have the loss adjusted on principles peculiar to the contract of insurance; and when a loss occurs, unless caused by the act of God, or of a public enemy, he is always in fault. The law raises against him a conclusive presumption of misconduct, or breach of duty, in relation to every loss not caused by excepted perils.
The government was and remained simply a carrier and distributor of the water, with the right to receive the sums stipulated in the contracts as reimbursement for the cost of construction and annual charges for operation and maintenance of the works.
the government as carrier, under the Reclamation Act (43 U.S.C. § 391) · construing 43 U.S.C. § 391 · Reclamation Act of 1902