Western Union Tel. Co v. Cooledge

• Decision Date: 10 November 1890
• Citation: 86 Ga. 104,12 S.E. 264
• Parties: Western Union Tel. Co. v. Cooledge.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

86 Ga. 104

12 S.E. 264

Western Union Tel. Co.

v.Cooledge.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 10, 1890.

Telegraph Companies — Repeal of Statutes— Action fob Statutory Penalty.

1. Act Ga. Nov. 12, 1889, (Acts 1888-89, p. 175,) is entitled " An act to encourage and authorize the construction of telegraph lines in the state of Georgia, and conferring certain privileges, powers, and penalties on the owners thereof, and to provide a penalty for divulging the contents of any private message by any person connected with such telegraph company." Section 1 authorizes any company, legally chartered, to construct and operate telegraph lines on public highways, and across and under any waters in the state. The remaining sections make it the duty of telegraph companies to receive and transmit messages on payment of the usual charge, forbid discrimination, provide that messages shall be transmitted in the order received, with a certain exception, and provide a penalty for divulging the contents of any private telegram. Held that, as the act did not apply to any telegraph company whose lines were previously constructed, and appeared to be in violation of the constitutional provision that no act shall contain more than one subject-matter, it did not repeal Act Ga. 1887, (Acts 1886-87, p. 111,) regulating telegraph companies.

2. A provision in a telegraph blank that all claims for damages for negligence in sending the dispatch shall be made in writing within a certain time, or the company shall not be liable, does not apply to an action for a statutory penalty for such negligence.

Error from city court of Atlanta; Van Eppes, Judge.

Action by Cooledge against the Western Union Telegraph Company to recover a statutory penalty for defendant's neglect in transmitting a telegraph message. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant brings error.

Bigby & Berry, for plaintiff in error.

J. F. Daniel, for defendant in error.

Blandford, J. 1. The controlling question in this case is whether the act passed by the general assembly on the 12th of November, 1S89, as to telegraph companies, (Acts 1888-89, p. 175,) repeals the act passed on October 22, 1887, (Acts 1886-87, p. 111,) relating to the same subject-matter. The last-named act is "An act to prescribe the duty of electric telegraph companies as to receiving and transmitting dispatches, to prescribe penalties for violations thereof, and for other purposes." The first section of this act makes it the duty of every electric telegraph company with a line of wire wholly or partly in this state, and engaged in telegraphing for the public, to receive, during the usual office hours, all dispatches, whether from other telegraphic lines or from individuals; and on payment or tender of the usual charge, according to the regulations of such company, shall transmit and deliver the same with impartiality and good faith, and with due diligence, under penalty of $100, which penalty may be recovered in a justice or other court having jurisdiction thereof, by either the sender of the dispatch, or the person to whom sent or directed, whichever may first sue. The first-mentioned act (that of November 12, 1889) is declared by its title to be "An act to encourage and authorize the construction of telegraph lines in the state of Georgia, and conferring certain privileges, powers, and penalties on the owners thereof, and to provide a penalty for divulging the contents of any private message by any person connected with such...