to carry, according to his profession, though there may be no specific agreement as to the performance of the service, or the price to be charged for it, and, with certain reservations, which will be noticed hereafter, he becomes an insurer, and is liable for loss or damage, unless such loss or damage arises from the act of God or the Queen's enemies.
Legally speaking, railway companies are not common carriers unless they choose to constitute themselves as such. The Railway Clauses Consolidation Act of 1845 provides that it shall be lawful for a railway company to employ engines and carriages and convey passengers and goods, but it does not say that they shall do so. Thus some of the earlier railway companies simply allowed other people to run their own engines and carriages over the railway on payment of tolls, and they were not common carriers ; but so soon as a railway company exercises its discretion under the Act of 1845, and holds itself out to the world as a common carrier, it comes within the operation of all the provisions of carrier's law, which, with some variations, applies equally to all other means of conveyance, whether by land or water.
A railway company is not entitled to make any charges for the services it performs, in excess of the charges specified in the Acts relating to its undertaking.
From this point it will be convenient to divide the remarks which follow under two heads, viz., (a) as to the law affecting the carriage of merchandise (in which term is included coal and other minerals, and live stock);,and (b) as to the law affecting the conveyance of passengers, and their luggage.
