PREFACE.

No branch of the law is more important than that relating to the rights and duties of shippers and carriers, and no branch of the law is less generally known. The purpose of this book is to assist those who may be called upon to advise as to such rights and duties to an understanding of this interesting phase of the law.

In approaching the subject the experience of an active practitioner was drawn upon to determine what would be most useful, not only to the legal profession, but to traffic men, whether in the employ of the carriers or of those bureaus organized throughout the country to aid and advise shippers. From this experience, it was thought that where the state of the authorities justified, the law should be given as nearly as might be in the language of the courts of final authority. For this reason, where questions have been definitely determined, liberal quotations have been inserted.

Many questions, however, affecting the subject of this book have not yet been settled. Where this is true, the opinions of the federal courts, the Interstate Commerce Commission and state courts, have been referred to and discussed. In this way it has been sought to deduce the principles of the law.

The Act to Regulate Commerce has been annotated, not only with the decisions of the courts, but also with the opinions of the Interstate Commerce Commission. This will enable one desiring to investigate a particular provision of that act to trace the construction thereof by the references which have been made thereto by the tribunals whose duty it is to enforce this great statute.

The Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust Statutes, the TwentyEight Hour Law, and other acts affecting the question are cited and discussed in so far as they relate to the subject under investigation. Statutes such as the Safety Appliance Acts, the Employers' Liability Act, the Hours of Service Act, the Federal Trade Commission and Anti-Trust Acts, and other acts, a knowledge of which is necessary to those who, as prac

titioners or otherwise have to do with the enforcement of those laws, or are required to advise or act with reference thereto, are inserted.

Because the conference rulings of the Interstate Commerce Commission are of such general use and are not always available, and adopting the suggestions of lawyers and traffic officials familiar with the practice before the Commission, these conference rulings have been copied at the end of Volume One

While few lawyers have given special attention to the questions here discussed, the widening scope of interstate commerce makes it necessary that all practitioners shall be ready to advise clients as to their rights and liabilities growing out of the law relating to transportation.

Claims for overcharge, for loss and for damage on shipments moving from one state to another arise in the business of most manufacturers, jobbers and merchants. The law fixing the rights growing out of such shipments is found in the statutes and decisions of the Federal Government. To make the Laws more easily available and understandable is the purpose of this work. With what success that purpose has been affected must be determined by those who may make use of what is herein set down.

Intrastate transportation is so closely related to that which is interstate, that a new chapter has been added, in which is discussed intrastate transportation in so far as it affects directly or indirectly the principal subject of the book. The author desires to acknowledge the valuable services of Mr. Mac Asbill who has assisted in revising the manuscript. EDGAR WATKINS.

Atlanta, Ga., June 1, 1920.