UPON THE LAW OF TELEGRAPHS; WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THE GENERAL STATUTORY PROVISIONS OF ENG- OF THE UNION, UPON THE SUBJECT OF TELEGRAPHS. BY WILLIAM L. SCOTT AND MILTON P. JARNAGIN, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by W. L. SCOTT AND MILTON P. JARNAGIN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of West Tennessee. L 7544 JUN 8 1933 CAMBRIDGE: PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON PREFACE. THE rapid extension of the Telegraph, and its growing importance in commercial transactions and in private correspondence, induced the belief that a treatise upon the Law of Telegraphs would be acceptable to the Profession. Numerous cases in England and America have already come before the Courts for adjudication, involving rights and liabilities growing out of the use of the Telegraph; and the cases steadily multiply, as this agency becomes more extended. The wonderful perfection of the instruments and appliances now used, as also the improvements constantly being made, plainly indicate that the Telegraph has a capacity for serving the public, not dreamed of by its first inventors. Its adoption into the postal systems of the world is only a question of time. It will be seen that there is much conflict of judicial opinion upon important questions connected with this subject, in the cases already reported. They are scattered through so many series of reports, that they are not accessible by those who have not very large libraries. A mere compilation of decisions would be useful; but that would still impose upon the reader the necessity of sifting and comparing the whole mass, in order to find the weight of authority in a given case. Manifestly a treatise only can meet the wants of the Profession; and we have written one. Believing a satisfactory solution of these questions could, in most instances, be found in the analogies of legal principles already established, we have traced the resemblance wherever deemed apposite. Our expression of dissent from the conclusions of several Courts may be proof of our temerity; but we imply no disrespect for the learned Judges by whom the cases were decided. Whether the same extraordinary responsibility rests upon Telegraph Companies in relation to the transmission of messages, as is applied to common carriers in the carriage of goods, is a very interesting, and, perhaps, the most important, branch of Telegraph Law, and about which there is the greatest diversity of opinion. We have adopted the following order of arrangement: Part I. relates to things common to Telegraph Companies and other corporations; and Part II. to things peculiar to Telegraph Companies. It is believed that we have referred to all the cases reported upon this subject which possess any interest, and the important points they contain have been exhibited, either in the text or in the notes. We offer this work to the Profession with diffidence; and that diffidence is increased by the fact that we have had no precursor in this field of investigation. It may fail to meet the wants of the Profession; still we offer it in the hope that its defects may incite, and its merits assist, those who may be willing to undergo the labor of a more satisfactory and thorough presentation of this important subject. MEMPHIS, Tennessee, September, 1868. |