10965. Name and Address.-As a general rule, when a person commits an offence against a railway Act, or against a railway bye-law, it will suffice, for the moment, if the offender gives his real name and address to the servant of the company charging him with the offence;

in that case,

10966. Summons or Warrant.-If redress is not obtained by correspondence, the company may proceed before magistrates, by summons or warrant, in the usual course; but,

10967. Defiance.-If an offender, though giving his real name and address, perists in his offence, or is abusive or defiant; or,

10968. If there is reasonable cause for doubting the genuineness of the name and address given; then, in either case,

10969. Detention.-The servant or servants of the company may detain the offender; and

10970. Assistance.-If, in securing and detaining an offender, any servant of the company requests the assistance of other persons, they are at liberty to assist accordingly, and the company is responsible for the reasonable acts of such other persons in detaining the offender; but,

10971. Immediate Adjudication.—If the servants of a railway company elect to detain an offender against their Acts or bye-laws, they must procure the adjudication of a magistrate (forthwith, if practicable, or) at the earliest possible moment.

DEFENCES OF PASSENGERS.

10972. Letter and Spirit.-In considering the defences which a person who is accused of offending against a railway Act or railway bye-law may set up, the spirit of the law, and not the letter only, must be taken into account.

10973. Ignorance of Passengers.-Ignorance of the law, however genuine a plea, cannot be accepted as a defence against railway or any other law (10961); but,

10974. Wilfulness.-There must be evidence of a wilful act or omission.

10975. Inadvertences.-Tangible proof of the accidental or inadvertent nature of the alleged act or omission is a good defence; and

10976. Justifiable Conduct.-Though an act or omission may be wilful, it may sometimes be justified contrary to the letter of the law (10963-4); thus,

19977. Avoidance of Danger-Getting into or out of a railway

carriage to avoid a manifest danger, could not be tortured into an offence; so also,

10978. Insolent Demands.—If a railway ticket is insolently or improperly demanded; or,

10979. Unreasonable Demands.—Demanded an unreasonable number of times, quiet resistance may be justified; for,

10980. Regard for Passengers.-It is the duty of railway companies to exercise the great powers conferred upon them with reasonable regard to the comfort and convenience of passengers.

10981. Tickets of Parties.—If a party (say of three or four) travel by the same train, and they get into different compartments, the possession of the requisite tickets for all by any one of the party will clear the others from any liability for non-possession.

10982. Masters and Servants.—The owner of certain horses having seen his horses into a horse-box, took his seat in a passenger carriage, telling his two boys, for whom he had procured tickets, to travel in charge of the horses. The boys, not being able to produce tickets, were resisted when they attempted to accompany the horses. The boys being unable to find their master in time, the train left them behind. The master produced the tickets he had procured and held for the boys, and the company were mulcted in damages for breach of contract.

10983. Intention to Defraud.—If a person travels without a ticket, or travels beyond the place indicated upon his ticket, there must be at least some evidence of a probable intention to defraud, otherwise the infliction of the penalty (10933) cannot be justified; again,

10984. Fares Throughout.—In all cases where the letter of the law seems to entitle railway companies to enforce the payment of the fare "from the place whence the train originally started," the power cannot be legally exercised if the offender can produce conclusive evidence of having only ridden a shorter distance.

10985. Contrary to Equity.-The provision, in face of rebutting evidence, is manifestly contrary to the spirit of equity (10924); and

10986. Examination of Tickets.-The universal custom of railway companies in examining railway tickets several times during a long journey would seem, of itself, to be sufficient to imply a waiver of the power alluded to.

10987. The unreasonableness of the strict letter of this law is apparent upon reflection that if a person, in a great hurry to get from Willesden to Euston Square, got into the Scotch express without

procuring a ticket, and tendered his fare at Euston Station, he could be charged the whole fare from Inverness.

DISREPUTABLE PASSENGERS.

10988. Card Sharpers, &c.—Railway servants are entitled to arrest and eject persons who play at any game of chance, with cards, dice, "garters," or other instrument; and

10989. Pickpockets.—If a passenger is reasonably suspected of picking pockets; or,

10990. Reputed Thieves.-If he is a reputed pickpocket or thief, the servants of the company are entitled to arrest and eject him; and

10991. Resistance of Passengers.-Persons who resist railway servants in the execution of their duty, are liable to instant arrest, summary conviction before a magistrate, a fine of £5, or imprisonment in default; on the other hand,

10992. Assaults upon Passengers.— If a railway servant improperly arrests a passenger, he is expressly guilty of assault (11155).

CRIMINAL PASSENGERS.

10993. Arrest.-The servants of railway companies are authorized to arrest and detain persons who have committed criminal offences against other passengers, or who are accused of doing so ; but,

10994. Subsequent Proceedings.-Subsequent proceedings for criminal offences, as between passengers, cannot be taken by the company; thus,

10995. If a passenger is robbed of his watch; or,

10996. If a murderous assault is committed; or,

10997. If an "indecent assault" is alleged;

10998. End of Power.-The right and duty of the company ends with assisting the aggrieved person to detain the offender.

THE VICTIMS.

10999. Prosecutions.-If punishment is sought, the aggrieved person must take the whole trouble and responsibility of prosecuting; 11000. Must incur all the expense; and

11001. Be prepared with the necessary evidence; and 11002. Must take all the consequences of failure; as,

11003. Offences Unaltered.-The mere fact that the offence was committed upon the premises of a railway company, or in a railway carriage, makes no difference to the relative rights and liabilities of the parties,

SMOKING CARRIAGES.

11004. Rule. The rule for smoking carriages is that in every train there shall be at least one smoking compartment provided of every class of which there is more than one carriage in the train.

11005. Nearly Universal.-Nearly every railway company is bound to comply with the rule respecting smoking carriages or compartments; but,

11006. Metropolitan Railway.-The Metropolitan Railway Company are expressly exempted from the obligation to provide smoking carriages; and

11007. Discretion of Board.-The Board of Trade have power, upon special reasons assigned, to exempt any railway company from the usual obligation respecting smoking carriages.

COMMUNICATIONS WITH GUARDS.

11008. Specified Trains.-Every railway company is bound to provide and maintain, upon every train which is appointed to travel more than twenty miles without stopping, a means of communication between the passengers and the guard of the train, to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade.

11009. Penalty for Omission.-The penalty upon railway companies for not providing the required communication between passengers and guards, is £10 for every omission; and

11010. Penalty for Improper Use.-The penalty upon every passenger who uses the communication with the guard without reasonable cause, is £5 for every offence.

UNPUNCTUALITY OF TRAINS.

11011. Margin.-Railway companies, in common with other carriers of passengers (10685), are entitled to a considerable margin for contingencies with reference to unpunctuality; but,

11012. Great Inconvenience.—As the unpunctuality of railway trains usually involves greater inconvenience than that of any other conveyance, special notice is demanded of some peculiar points.

11013. Accidents.-Accidents over which a company has no control will usually exonerate such company for delay either in starting or arriving; but,

11014. Difficulties. It is the duty of the company to make the best of accidents, and to use every exertion to overcome difficulties and the delay arising from them; for,

11015. Dilatoriness. — An accident, however unavoidable, is no excuse for subsequent dilatoriness or indifference; and

11016. Negligence.--If an accident is proved to have arisen from the negligence of a company or its servants, such company is as liable for the unpunctuality as if no accident had occurred; but,

PROCEEDINGS.

11017. Losses and Expenses.—In every case of a claim against a railway company for unpunctuality, the plaintiff must be prepared to prove a pecuniary loss or justifiable expense, clearly arising out of the circumstances;

11018. Vexation.-Mere vexation or injury to the feelings, however acute, arising out of unpunctuality, is no claim for damages.

11019. Loss of Market.—The train for London was delayed in consequence of deficiency of steam in the engine, which deficiency. arose from lateness in lighting the fire. A corn merchant, desiring to proceed to Mark Lane, having procured a ticket for the train which was thus delayed, hired a special train, notwithstanding which he was too late for the market. The company were held liable not only for the expense of the special train, but also for loss of market.

11020. Cross Functions.-The commonest kind of mischief arising from unpunctuality is when one train arrives at a station too late to proceed further by another for which the former was appointed to be in time.

11021. Slight Inconvenience.-If there is another train soon afterwards, so that there is only slight inconvenience caused, there can rarely be a claim for damages; but,

11022. Long Intervals.-If there is a long interval before another train is appointed to start; or, more especially,

11023. No other Train.-If it is late in the day and there is no other train appointed to perform the required journey until the next morning, there is generally a good claim for damages; in one noted case,

11024. Hotel Bills.-A passenger being delayed for the night by a late train recovered the amount of his hotel bill, but it was decided that he was not entitled to compensation for not having reached home; in another case,

11025. Expense of Posting.-A passenger was held justified in posting home, and he accordingly recovered the expenses of doing so.