The former is merely evidence of an ordinary contract of bailment; the latter is, in addition, the negotiable representative of goods. The warehouseman is required to mark plainly on any duplicate receipts issued by him that they are duplicates, and on any non-negotiable receipts issued by him that they are non negotiable. In the case of the warehouseman's failure to do so, a holder of a receipt who purchased for value the duplicate suppos ing it to be an original may hold the warehouseman for all damage caused, even though the purchase be after the delivery of the goods by the warehouseman to the holder of the original receipt; and a holder of a receipt who purchased for value a non-negotiable receipt supposing it to be negotiable may, at his option, treat such receipt as imposing upon the warehouseman the same liabilities that he would have incurred had the receipt been negotiable.
Liability of Warehouseman A warehouseman, in the absence of some lawful excuse pro vided by the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act, is bound to deliver the goods upon a demand either by the holder of a receipt for the goods or by the depositor, if such demand is accompanied with: 1. An offer to satisfy the warehouseman's lien.
2. An offer to surrender the receipt if negotiable, with such indorsements as would be necessary for the negotiation of the receipt.
3. A readiness and willingness to sign when the goods are delivered, if such signature is requested by the ware houseman.
The warehouseman may discharge his liability as to the goods by delivering them to: 1. The person lawfully entitled to the possession of the goods, or his agent.
2. A person who is either himself entitled to delivery by the terms of a non-negotiable receipt issued for the goods, or who has written authority from the person so en titled either indorsed upon the sheet or written upon another paper.
3. A person in possession of a negotiable receipt, by the terms of which the goods are deliverable to him or order or bearer, or which has been indorsed to him or in blank by the person to whom delivery was promised by the terms of the receipt or by his mediate or immediate indorsee.
Delivery to a person not lawfully entitled to possession of the goods makes the warehot&man liable for conversion to all having a right of property or possession, unless the delivery was as author ized in (2) or (3) above; and even if the delivery was so author ized he would be liable if, prior to such delivery, he had either been requested by or on behalf of the person lawfully entitled to a right of property or possession in the goods not to make such delivery, or had information that the delivery about to be made was to one not lawfully entitled to the possession of the goods.
When a warehouseman delivers goods for which he has issued a negotiable receipt and fails to take up and cancel the receipt, he is liable to anyone who in good faith purchases such receipt for value, for failure to deliver the goods to him, whether such pur chaser acquired title to the receipt before or after the delivery of the goods by the warehouseman. This rule does not apply to non-negotiable receipts, nor to negotiable receipts after goods have been lawfully sold to satisfy a warehouseman's lien, or law fully sold or disposed of because of their perishable or hazardous nature. The same exceptions apply to the rule that where a warehouseman delivers part of the goods for which he issued a negotiable receipt and fails to take up and cancel such receipt, or to place plainly upon it a statement of what goods and pack ages have been delivered, he is liable to anyone, who in good faith purchases such receipt for value, for failure to deliver 'all the goods specified in the receipt.
The alteration of a receipt does not excuse the warehouseman who issued it from any liability if such alteration was immaterial, authorized, or made without fraudulent intent. If the alteration was authorized, the warehouseman is liable according to the terms of the receipt as altered; if unauthorized, but made without fraudulent intent, he is liable according to the terms of the receipt before alteration. Material and fraudulent alteration does not excuse the issuing warehouseman from liability to deliver accord ing to the terms of the receipt as originally issued, but does excuse him from any other liability to the person who made the altera tion and to any person who took it with notice of the alteration. Any purchaser of the receipt for value without notice of the altera tion acquires the same rights against the warehouseman which such purchaser would have acquired if the receipt had not been altered at the time of the purchase.
A warehouseman is liable to the holder of a receipt for damages caused by the non-existence of the goods, or by the failure of the goods to correspond with the description in the receipt at the time of issue. If, however, the goods are described in the receipt merely by a statement of marks or labels upon them, or upon packages containing them, or by a statement that the goods are said to be goods of a certain kind, or that the packages containing the goods are said to contain goods of a certain kind, or by words of like purport, such statements, if true, do not make the issuing warehouseman liable although the goods prove not to be of the kind which the marks or labels upon them indicate, or of the kind they were said to be by the depositor.