A
carrier is a person or corporation who undertakes to transport or convey goods
or persons from one place to another, gratuitously or for hire. The carrier is
classified either as a private/special carrier or as a common/public carrier.
A
private carrier is one who, without making the activity a vocation, or without
holding himself or itself out to the public as ready to act for all who may
desire his or its services, undertakes, by special agreement in a particular
instance only, to transport goods or persons from one place to another either
gratuitously or for hire. The provisions
on ordinary contracts of the Civil Code govern the contract of private
carriage. The diligence required of a
private carrier is only ordinary, that is, the diligence of a good father of
the family.
In
contrast, a common carrier is a person, corporation, firm or association
engaged in the business of carrying or transporting passengers or goods or
both, by land, water, or air, for compensation, offering such services to the
public. Contracts of common carriage are
governed by the provisions on common carriers of the Civil Code, the Public
Service Act, and other special laws relating to transportation. A
common carrier is required to observe extraordinary diligence, and is presumed
to be at fault or to have acted negligently in case of the loss of the effects
of passengers, or the death or injuries to passengers. (Sps Pereña vs. Sps Zarate, G.R. No. 157917, August 29, 2012, [Bersamin,
J.})
The
concept of a common carrier embodied in Article 1732 of the Civil Code
coincides neatly with the notion of public service under the Public Service
Act, which supplements the law on common carriers found in the Civil Code.
Public service, according to Section 13, paragraph (b) of the Public Service
Act, includes:
x
x x every person that now or hereafter may own, operate, manage, or control in
the Philippines, for hire or compensation, with general or limited clientèle,
whether permanent or occasional, and done for the general business purposes,
any common carrier, railroad, street railway, traction railway, subway motor
vehicle, either for freight or passenger, or both, with or without fixed route
and whatever may be its classification, freight or carrier service of any
class, express service, steamboat, or steamship line, pontines, ferries and
water craft, engaged in the transportation of passengers or freight or both,
shipyard, marine repair shop, ice-refrigeration plant, canal, irrigation system,
gas, electric light, heat and power, water supply and power petroleum, sewerage
system, wire or wireless communications systems, wire or wireless broadcasting
stations and other similar public services. x x x. (Sps Pereña vs. Sps Zarate, G.R. No. 157917, August 29, 2012)
The
true test for a common carrier is not the quantity or extent of the business
actually transacted, or the number and character of the conveyances used in the
activity, but whether the undertaking is
a part of the activity engaged in by the carrier that he has held out to the
general public as his business or occupation. If the undertaking is a
single transaction, not a part of the general business or occupation engaged
in, as advertised and held out to the general public, the individual or the
entity rendering such service is a private, not a common, carrier. The question
must be determined by the character of
the business actually carried on by the carrier, not by any secret
intention or mental reservation it may entertain or assert when charged with
the duties and obligations that the law imposes. (Sps Pereña vs. Sps Zarate, G.R. No. 157917, August 29, 2012, [Bersamin,
J.])
In De Guzman vs. Court of Appeals[1],
in referring to Article 1732 of the Civil Code, it held thus:
No comments:
Post a Comment