20 Law Jour. 428.
5. Injuries to domestic animals. The com pany are not liable for any injury to domestic animals straying upon their track, or while crossing it, in the highway, unless they base been guilty of some neglect in building fences or in the management of their trains.
21 N. H. 363 ; 29 Me. 307 ; 6 Penn. St. 472; 6 Ind. 141; 8 id. 402 ; 4 Ohio St. 424; 4 Exch. 580 ; 33 Eng. L. & Eq. 193 ; 25 Vt. 150.
Liability for the acts of contractors, sub contractors, and agents. The company are not liable for the act of the contractor or sub-contractor, or their agents, except in doing precisely what ie contemplated in the contract. 5 Barnew. & C. 547 ; 6 Mees. & W. Exch. 499 ; 12 Ad. & E. 737 ; 5 Exch. 721 ; 24 Barb. N. Y. 355; 4 Den. N. Y. 311; 3 Gray, Mass. 349; Redfield, Railw. 168. Railway companies are liable for the acts of their agents and sub-agents within the range of their employment ; and it has been the purpose of the courts to give such agents a large discretion, and hold the companies liable for all acts of their agents within the most extensive range of their charter-powers. 14 How. 483 ; 27 Vt. 110; 7 Cush. Mass. 385. But the company are not liable for the wilful acts of their agents, out of the range of their employment, unless directefl by the company or subsequently adopted by them. 2 Harr. N. J. 514; 1 Fla. 136. See this subject fur ther discussed in Redfield, Railw. 169, and notes. The company are not liable for inju ries to servants through the neglect of their fellovv-servants or defects in machinery, un less they were themselves in fault in employ ing incompetent servants or purchasing im perfect machinery for the road. 3 Mees. & W. Exch. 1 ; 4 Mete. Mass. 49 ; 6 Hill, N. Y. 592 ; 9 N. Y. 175.
6. Railway companies are liable for any injury accruing to the person or property of another through any want of reasonable care and prudence on the part of their agents or employees. Thie occurs from tbe omission of the requisite signals at road-crossings, and from want of care in other respects in crossing highways. 2 Cush. Mass. 539 ; 10 id. 562. See, also, 28 Vt. 185 ; 18 Ga. 679 ; 8 Gray, Mass. The conduct of railway trains is so far matter of science and akill that it is proper to receive the testimony of experts in regard to it. 23 Vt. 394, 395 ; 17 111. 509,
580. Railway companies, like othei corpo.
- ration, cannot be bound by any contract of their agents beyond their charter-power, or, as it is called, Ultra vires, although assumed by their express direction or consent. 7 Eng.
L. & Eq. 505 ; 16 id. 180 ; 30 id. 120.
1. Railway investment*. The large arnount of capital invested in railway stock and bonds, or notes and mortgages, in this country, ren ders this subject one of very considerable im portance. The forms of such investments are— stock, preferred stock, and notes with coupons attached for the payment of the interest at stated times (generally once in six months), these being secured by mortgage of the road and all its appurtenances. The practice adopted by some of the railways in this country of issuing preferred stock, or prefer ence stock, as it is called in England, and of issuing stock at reduced prices after all has been sold at par which can be disposed of in the market, or of mortgaging the entire road two or three times over, giving successive priorities, has generally been regarded as impolitic, if not positively fraudulent. 27 Vt. 673, 692 ; Redfield, Railw. 563, g 234, and cases cited In notes.
The rights and remedies of bondholders and mortgagees, as well as the holders of preferred stock, depend -very much upon the forms of the contracts and the powers granted by the legislature to the company. The holders of preferred stock may, in a court of equity, compel the company to apply all their net earnings first to the payment of the stipulated dividend upon such stock. 30 Land. Law Times, 141. See, also, 2 Stockt. Ch. N. J. 171. And it is the familiar prac tice of the courts of equity in this country to allow the successive mortgagees fore closures upon all rights posterior to their bwn. How the property is to be controlled and managed thereafter is not yet well defined. The subject is a good deal dis cussed in an important case recently deter tnined by the supreme court of Vermont. 31 Vt.