IN MOST STATES A CONSIGNEE MUST BE NOTIFIED OF THE ARRIVAL OF HIS LUMBER.
Question—Is a railroad company obliged to notify the consignee of the arrival of lumber when it is billed and the bill of lading reads: “Order of shipper, notify consignee,” and if the carriers fail to notify the consignee, have they the right to charge demurrage or storage for the lumber so held? Would it make any difference if the lumber were billed direct to the consignee and were not an “Order notify shipment?” Have the courts made any rulings of this matter, and where can we find them?
Reply: A railroad company is, of course, bound to comply with the undertaking set forth in its own bill of lading. If it accepts goods to be carried and delivered under a bill which expressly directs it to “notify the consignee” there is no ground upon which it can escape its obligation actually to notify the consignee except the impossibility of finding him by the ordinary means. If the consignee can readily be found the carrier has not fulfilled the task which it has expressly and in definite terms undertaken to fulfill until it has found him and notified him. It has no right to charge demurrage or storage until such notification has been duly given. If the consignee cannot be found by the exercise of reasonable diligence then the attempt to find him will serve the carrier as well as an actual notification. If the bill of lading does not, in express terms, direct the carrier to notify the consignee this duty still rests upon the carrier by common law as it is interpreted in this State. In some States (Massachusetts, for example) the carrier is not bound to notify the consignee of the arrival of his goods unless the contract of carriage expressly so directs. But in New York the courts hold that this is one of the carrier’s duties, as carrier, without any special stipulation regarding it. This is the rule, as the courts of New York have announced it. “The rules as to the delivery of goods at their place of destination by a carrier that prevail in this State are as follows: If the consignee be present upon the arrival of the goods, he must take them without unreasonable delay. If he be not present, but live at or in the vicinity of the place of delivery, the carrier must notify him of the arrival of the goods, and then he has a reasonable time to remove them. If he be absent, unknown, or cannot be found, then the carrier can place the goods in its freight house, and if the consignee does not call for them in a reasonable time, its liability as a common carrier ceases.”
Opinion No. 25.
OBTAINING CERTIFICATES PERMITTING FOREIGN CORPORATIONS TO DO BUSINESS IN NEW YORK.
A previous opinion contained some information regarding foreign corporations obtaining certificates to do business in New York. The following additional information, from our attorney in New York, Mr. Eustace Conway, 15 William Street, regarding amendments effective November 1st, will be interesting:
There went into effect on November 1st, 1906, various important amendments to the corporation Tax Law. The annual franchise tax is placed on a different basis from what it has been heretofore for foreign corporations, and the license tax which foreign corporations have to pay for doing business in this State is also changed as to its method of determination. Under the new law the measure of amount of capital stock employed in this State (on which the tax of ⅛ of 1 per cent. is to be paid for this corporation license to do business here) is to be such a proportion of the issued capital stock as the gross assets employed in any business within this State bear to the gross assets wherever employed in business. As no action shall be maintained in any of the courts of this State by such foreign corporation without obtaining a receipt for this license fee, it is important to foreign corporations expecting to do business here to comply with the statute and take out the certificate. This tax, of course, is only to be paid once for the license, unless later an increased amount of capital stock is employed in the State, but this is not likely to occur. The annual franchise tax is, of course, a different tax, but it is based on the same proportion, except that the amount of dividends is also to be considered.
Opinion No. 26.
THE NEW JERSEY LIEN LAW PROTECTS MATERIAL MEN.
Question—Please state whether or not, under the laws of the State of New Jersey, a seller of building materials comes in under the mechanics’ lien law the same as the man selling his labor.