The purchaser from a railroad company at a reduced rate of fare,
of a ticket for a passage to a certain station and back, containing
a contract signed by him by which he agrees that the ticket is not
good for a return passage unless stamped by the agent of the
company at that station, and that no agent or employee of the
company is authorized to alter, modify or waive any condition of
the contract, is bound by those conditions, whether he knew them or
not, and if without having attempted to have the ticket so stamped,
but upon showing it to the baggage master and gateman at the
station, he has his ticket punched and his baggage checked, and is
admitted to the train, and, upon being told by the conductor that
his ticket is not good for want of the stamp, refuses either to
leave the train or to pay full fare, and is forcibly put off at the
next station, he cannot maintain an action sounding in contract
against the company, or except to the exclusion at the trial of
such an action of evidence concerning the circumstances attending
his expulsion and the consequent injuries to him or his
business.
This was an action of assumpsit against a railroad corporation
by a person who, after taking passage on one of its trains, was
forcibly expelled by the conductor.
Page 132 U. S. 147
At the trial in the circuit court, the plaintiff testified that
on March 18, 1882, he purchased at the office of the Wabash, St.
Louis and Pacific Railway Company in Chicago a ticket for a passage
to Hot Springs and back, (which is copied in the margin
* and which, as
was alleged in the declaration and appeared upon the face of the
ticket, was then signed by him as well as by the ticket agent, and
witnessed by a third person), and upon this ticket traveled on the
defendant's railroad to Hot Springs.
He was asked by his counsel when he first actually knew that the
ticket required him to have it stamped at Hot Springs. The question
was objected to by the defendant, and ruled out by the court.
He further testified that on April 19, 1882, when leaving Hot
Springs on his return to Chicago, he went to the baggage office and
requested the baggage master to check his baggage, and, on his
asking to see the ticket, showed it to him, and he thereupon
punched the ticket, checked the baggage, and gave him the checks
for it, and also that the gateman asked to see the ticket, and he
showed it to him, and then passed through the gate, and took his
seat in the cars. This testimony was objected to by the defendant
on the ground that no statement or action of the baggage master or
of the gateman would constitute a waiver of any of the written
conditions of the contract, and it was admitted by the court,
subject to the objection.
Page 132 U. S. 148
The plaintiff then testified that soon after leaving Hot
Springs, the conductor, in taking the tickets of passengers, came
to him and, upon being shown his ticket, said it was not good,
because he had failed to have it stamped at Hot Springs; the
plaintiff replied that the baggage master, when checking his
baggage, had said nothing to him about it, and he did not know it
was necessary; the conductor answered that he must either go back
to not Springs and have the ticket stamped or else pay full fare,
but did not demand any specific sum of fare, or tell him what the
fare was, and upon his refusing to pay another fare or to leave the
train, forcibly put him off at the next station, notwithstanding he
resisted as much as he could, and in so doing injured him in body
and health.
Page 132 U. S. 149
On motion of the defendant upon the grounds, among others, that
this was an action of assumpsit for breach of contract, and that
the plaintiff failed to produce to the conductor a ticket or
voucher which entitled him to be carried on the train, and that
until the plaintiff identified himself at the office at Hot Springs
and had the ticket stamped and signed by the agent there, he had no
subsisting contract between himself and the defendant for a return
passage to Chicago, the court declined to permit the plaintiff to
testify to the consequent injury to his business and to his ability
to earn money, excluded all evidence offered as to the force used
in removing him from the train and as to his expulsion from the
train, although corresponding to allegations inserted in the
declaration, and directed a verdict for the defendant.
The plaintiff excepted to the rulings of the court and, after
verdict and judgment for the defendant, sued out this writ of
error.
Page 132 U. S. 150
MR. JUSTICE GRAY, after stating the facts as above, delivered
the opinion of the Court.
This is an action of assumpsit, and cannot be maintained without
proof of a breach of contract by the defendant to carry the
plaintiff. The only contract between the parties was an express
one, signed by the plaintiff himself as well as by the defendant's
agent at Chicago, and contained in a ticket for a passage to Hot
Springs and back. The plaintiff, having assented to that contract
by accepting and signing it, was bound by the conditions expressed
in it, whether he did or did not read them or know what they were.
The question, when he first knew that the ticket required him to
have it stamped at Hot Springs, was therefore rightly excluded as
immaterial.
By the express conditions of the plaintiff's contract, he had no
right to a return passage under his ticket unless it bore the
signature and stamp of the defendant's agent at Hot Springs, and no
agent or employee of the defendant was authorized to alter, modify,
or waive any condition of the contract. Neither the action of the
baggage master in punching the ticket and checking the plaintiff's
baggage nor that of the gateman in admitting him to the train
therefore could bind the defendant to carry him, or estop it to
deny his right to be carried.
The plaintiff did not have his ticket stamped at Hot Springs, or
make any attempt to do so, but insisted on the right to make the
return trip under the unstamped ticket, and without paying further
fare. As he absolutely declined to pay any such fare, the fact that
the conductor did not inform him of its amount is immaterial.
The unstamped ticket giving him no right to a return passage,
and, he not having paid, but absolutely refusing to pay, the usual
fare, there was no contract in force between him and the defendant
to carry him back from Hot Springs.
Page 132 U. S. 151
There being no such contract in force, there could be no breach
of it, and, no breach of contract being shown, this action of
assumpsit, sounding in contract only, and not in tort, cannot be
maintained to recover any damages, direct or consequential, for the
plaintiff's expulsion from the defendant's train. The plaintiff
therefore has not been prejudiced by the exclusion of the evidence
concerning the circumstances attending his expulsion, and the
consequent injuries to him or his business.
The case is substantially governed by the judgment of this Court
in
Mosher v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern
Railway, 127 U. S. 390, and
our conclusion in the case at bar is in accord with the general
current of decision in the courts of the several states.
See, besides the cases cited at the end of that judgment,
the following:
Churchill v. Chicago & Alton Railroad,
67 Ill. 390;
Petrie v. Pennsylvania Railroad, 42 N.J.Law
449;
Pennington v. Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore
Railroad, 62 Md. 95;
Rawitzky v. Louisville &
Nashville Railroad, 40 La.Ann. 47.
Nor was anything inconsistent with this conclusion decided in
either of the English cases relied on by the learned counsel for
the plaintiff. Each of those cases turned upon the validity and
effect of a bylaw made by the railway company, not of a contract
signed by the plaintiff, and otherwise essentially differed from
the case at bar.
In
Jennings v. Great Northern Railway, L.R. 1 Q.B. 7,
the bylaw required every passenger to obtain a ticket before
entering the train, and to show and deliver up his ticket whenever
demanded. The plaintiff took a ticket for himself, as well as
tickets for three horses and three boys attending them, by a
particular train, which was afterwards divided into two, in the
first of which the plaintiff traveled, taking all the tickets with
him, and when the second train was about to start, the boys were
asked to produce their tickets, and, being unable to do so, were
prevented by the company's servants from proceeding with the
horses. An action by the plaintiff against the company for not
carrying his servants was sustained because the company contracted
with him only, and delivered all the tickets to him, and Lord Chief
Justice Cockburn,
Page 132 U. S. 152
with whom the other judges concurred, said:
"It is unnecessary to determine whether, if the company had
given the tickets to the boys, and the boys had not produced their
tickets, it would have been competent for the company to have
turned them out of the carriage."
In
Butler v. Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire
Railway, L.R. 21 Q.B.D. 207, the ticket referred to conditions
published by the company, containing a similar bylaw, which further
provided that any passenger traveling without a ticket, or not
showing or delivering it up when requested, should pay the fare
from the station whence the train originally started. The
plaintiff, having lost his ticket, was unable to produce it when
demanded, and, refusing to pay such fare, was forcibly removed from
the train by the defendant's servants. The Court of Appeal,
reversing a judgment of the Queen's Bench Division, held the
company liable, because the plaintiff was lawfully on the train
under a contract of the company to carry him, and no right to expel
him forcibly could be inferred from the provisions of the bylaw in
question, requiring him to show his ticket or pay the fare, and
each of the judges cautiously abstained from expressing a decided
opinion upon the question whether a bylaw could have been so framed
as to justify the course taken by the company.
Judgment affirmed.
*
"Issued by Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway. Tourist's
special contract. Good for one first-class passage to Hot Springs,
Ark., and return, when officially stamped on the back hereof, and
presented with coupons attached."
"In consideration of the reduced rate at which this ticket is
sold, I, the undersigned, agree to and with the several companies
over whose lines this ticket entitles me to be carried, as follows,
to-wit:"
"1st. That in selling this ticket, the Wabash, St. Louis and
Pacific Railway Company acts as agent, and is not responsible
beyond its own line."
"2d. That this ticket is not transferable, and no stop-over at
any intermediate point will be allowed unless specially provided
for by the local regulations of the lines over which it reads."
"3d. That any alteration whatever of this ticket renders it
void."
"4th. That it is good for going passage only five (5) days from
date of sale, as stamped on back and written below."
"5th. That it is not good for return passage, unless the holder
identifies himself as the original purchaser, to the satisfaction
of the authorized agent of the Hot Springs Railroad at Hot Springs,
Ark., within fifty-five (55) days from date of sale, and when
officially signed and dated in ink, and duly stamped by said agent,
this ticket shall then be good only five (5) days from such
date."
"6th. That I, the original purchaser, hereby agree to sign my
name, and otherwise identify myself as such, whenever called upon
to do so by any conductor or agent of the line or lines over which
this ticket reads."
"7th. That baggage liability is limited to wearing apparel not
exceeding $100 in value."
"8th. That the coupons belonging to this ticket will not be
received for passage if detached."
"9th. That my signature shall be in manuscript and in ink."
"10th. That unless all the conditions on this ticket are fully
complied with, it shall be void."
"11th. That I will not hold any of the lines named in this
ticket liable for damages on account of any statement not in
accordance with this contract made by any employs of said
lines."
"12th. And it is especially agreed and understood by me that no
agent or employee of any of the lines named in this ticket has any
power to alter, modify or waive in any manner any of the conditions
named in this contract."
"Signature: P. C. BOYLAN"
"Witness: H. C. KEERAN"
"Date of sale, March 18th, 1882"
"GEO. H. DANIELS"
"
Gen'l Ticket Agent"
