WHETHER FREIGHT IS PREPAID OR ALLOWED DOES NOT AFFECT TITLE TO LUMBER.
Question.—A dealer in Buffalo sells a car of lumber to a dealer in Baltimore with the understanding that freight is to be allowed from Buffalo to Baltimore. Please state whether there is any distinction as to the ownership of the lumber in transit, whether the Buffalo dealer prepays the freight in Buffalo or allows the Baltimore dealer to deduct the amount of freight in settlement. If the freight is prepaid in Buffalo at the time of shipment, and the lumber be lost in transit prior to delivery, is the ownership of the lumber vested with the Buffalo or the Baltimore dealer?
Reply: If lumber is sold with an understanding that the seller is to pay the freight, it makes no difference at all, as to ownership during transit, whether freight is prepaid and included in the price, or whether it is deducted from the price and left for the buyer to pay. A seller is not bound to carry the lumber to its destination and deliver it there unless he has expressly agreed to do so. This is true whether the seller pays the freight or not; in either case a valid delivery, transferring risk and title, may be made, if the seller so chooses, at the beginning of the transportation unless the seller has agreed to deliver the goods elsewhere.
Opinion No. 9.