A gentleman removing took with him on the Great Western railway articles
consisting of six pairs of blankets, six pairs of sheets, and six
counterpanes, valued at £16, belonging to his household furniture. They
were in a box, which was put in the luggage van and lost. The question
at law was whether these articles came within the definition, “ordinary
passengers’ luggage,” for which, if lost, the passenger could claim
damages from the Company.
The judges of the Court of Queen’s Bench sitting in Banco have decided
that such is not personal luggage.
“Now,” (said the Lord Chief Justice) “although we are far from saying
that a pair of sheets or the like taken by a passenger for his use on a
journey might not fairly be considered as personal luggage, it appears to
us that a quantity of articles of that description intended, not for the
use of the traveller on the journey, but for the use of his household,
when permanently settled, cannot be held to be so.”
—_Herepath’s Railway Journal_, Jan. 10, 1871.