Constitutional provisions;

Article 3 section 6, The liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits
prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court. Neither
shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public
safety, or public health, as may be provided by law.

• Contract of carriage or transportation;

A contract whereby a person, natural or juridical, obligates to transport persons,

goods, or both, from one place to another, by land, air or water, for a price or
compensation.

• Characteristics of a common carrier;

(1) The common carrier undertakes to carry for all people indifferently; he holds
himself out as ready to engage in the transportation of goods for hire as a public
employment and not as a casual occupation, and he undertakes to carry for all
persons indifferently, within the limits of his capacity and the sphere of the business
required of him, so that he is bound to serve all who apply and is liable for refusal,
without sufficient reason, to do so

(2) The common carrier cannot lawfully decline to accept a particular class of goods
for carriage to the prejudice of the traffic in those goods

Exception : for some sufficient reason, where the discrimination in such goods is
reasonable and necessary (substantial grounds)

(3) No monopoly is favored - the Commission has the power to say what is a
reasonable compensation to the utility and to make reasonable rules and regulations
for the convenience of the traveling public and to enforce them

(4) Public convenience - for the best interests of the public

• Registered owner rule;

The registered owner of a motor vehicle whose operation causes injury to another is
legally liable to the latter.

Registered owner rule will not apply if the vehicle was taken from his garage without
his knowledge and consent. Rationale: it will be absurd to helf the owner liable for the
injury inflicted by the incident caused by the person who stile the vehicle.

Registered owner rule applies if the owner leased the vehicle to the actual operator of
the vehicle. In order to be free from the liability, the lessor-owner must register the lease
agreement to the the LTO, thus an annotation to the certificate registration will be input to
such and served as notice to third person that the lessee is the one in possession of the
vehicle and not the registered owner.

• Obligations of a common carrier in the carriage of goods;

Duty to accept – Common carrier is duty bound to accept goods without any
discrimination
 Exception:

 The goods to be transported are dangerous objects

 The goods in unfit for transportation
 Acceptance would result to overloading
 The goods are contrabands
 The goods are injurious to the health
 Goods will be exposed to untoward danger
 Goods are livestocks
 Strike
 Failure to tender goods in time

Duty to undertake extra ordinary diligence – Minimum Care Required

Duty to deliver Goods – duty to deliver the goods within the time agreed upon

• Defenses of a common carrier in the carriage of goods;

Ordinary circumstances: Performance of Extra ordinary Dilligence

Special circumstances: (FAACO) (Article 1734)

 Fortouitous Event
 Act of Public enemy
 Acts or Ommission of the Shipper
 Character of the Goods being shipped
 Order of competent Public Authority
o Fortuitous events must be the proximate cause of the loss or injury and must not
be coupled with bad faith, delay or negligence.

• Obligations of a common carrier in the carriage of passengers.

Article 1755 A common carrier is bound to carry the passengers safely as far as
human care and foresight can provide, using the utmost diligence of very cautious persons,
with a due regard for all the circumstances.

Article 1744. A stipulation between the common carrier and the shipper or owner limiting
the liability of the former for the loss, destruction, or deterioration of the goods to a degree
less than extraordinary diligence shall be valid, provided it be:

(1) In writing, signed by the shipper or owner;

(2) Supported by a valuable consideration other than the service rendered by the
common carrier; and

(3) Reasonable, just and not contrary to public policy.

Presumptions;

Common Carriers are presumed Negligient

Article 1745. Any of the following or similar stipulations shall be considered unreasonable,
unjust and contrary to public policy:

(1) That the goods are transported at the risk of the owner or shipper;

(2) That the common carrier will not be liable for any loss, destruction, or
deterioration of the goods;
(3) That the common carrier need not observe any diligence in the custody of the
goods;

(4) That the common carrier shall exercise a degree of diligence less than that of a
good father of a family, or of a man of ordinary prudence in the vigilance over the
movables transported;

(5) That the common carrier shall not be responsible for the acts or omission of his or
its employees;

(6) That the common carrier’s liability for acts committed by thieves, or of robbers
who do not act with grave or irresistible threat, violence or force, is dispensed with or
diminished;

(7) That the common carrier is not responsible for the loss, destruction, or
deterioration of goods on account of the defective condition of the car, vehicle, ship,
airplane or other equipment used in the contract of carriage.