Newhall

This case comes up on the findings, and there is, therefore, no controversy as to the facts; the only question being, whether the plaintiffs are entitled to judgment on the facts found. The facts necessary to a correct understanding of the only question of law in the case are, that a mercantile firm in New York sold certain merchandise on credit to a similar firm in San Francisco, and shipped the same in the usual course of business, by railway, to the vendees as consignees, under bills of lading in the usual form. The bills of lading were received at San Francisco by the consignees before the goods arrived; and while the merchandise was in transit, in the custody of the defendant as a common car *349 rier, the consignees failed, and became insolvent, and thereupon the vendors notified the defendant in writing that they stopped the goods in transitu; that the vendees had become insolvent, and the goods were not paid for, and that they must not be delivered to the consignees, but to the vendors. The plaintiffs then were, and for many years had been, auctioneers and commission merchants, doing business in San Francisco, and had been in the habit of receiving from the consignees…