Common carrier liability: mob violence is not an act of God, so the carrier remains liable for goods loss.

A common carrier publicly undertakes to carry goods for hire for all persons indiscriminately, and a public carrier under the Motor Vehicles Act fits that description. The carrier's lorry service was therefore treated as a common carrier, supported by the statutory permit scheme, public need, and scope for public objection. An act of God is limited to extraordinary loss directly caused by natural forces without human intervention. Robbery or destruction by an unruly mob is human agency, not an act of God, so the loss did not fall within the recognised exception and the carrier remained liable. The stated principle is that a common carrier's liability is absolute subject only to recognised exceptions.

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Issues: (i) Whether the defendant was a common carrier; (ii) Whether the destructive acts of an unruly mob could be characterised as an act of God.

Issue (i): Whether the defendant was a common carrier

Analysis: A common carrier is one who publicly professes to carry goods for hire for all persons indiscriminately. The Court applied this understanding to the carrier's lorry service and held that a public carrier under the Motor Vehicles Act answers that description. The statutory scheme of permits, public need, and public objection supported the conclusion that the service was in the nature of a public calling rather than a private carriage business.

Conclusion: The defendant was a common carrier.

Issue (ii): Whether the destructive acts of an unruly mob could be characterised as an act of God

Analysis: An act of God is confined to extraordinary losses arising directly from natural causes without human intervention. Loss caused by criminal or violent human agency does not fall within that exception, even if the event was beyond the carrier's control or unavoidable in a practical sense. Since the goods were robbed by an unruly mob, the loss was caused by human agency and not by a natural force.

Conclusion: The mob attack was not an act of God, and the carrier remained liable for the loss.

Final Conclusion: The common carrier's liability was treated as absolute subject only to recognised exceptions, and the loss in this case did not fall within those exceptions.

Ratio Decidendi: A common carrier is absolutely liable for loss of goods except where the loss is caused by act of God or the King's enemies, and a loss caused by human violence or criminal agency is not an act of God.

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