Hughes v. Boston & Maine Railroad
Supreme Court of New Hampshire
Case, for negligence. Transferred from the November term, 1901, of the superior court. At the close of the plaintiff’s opening statement to the jury a nonsuit was ordered by Peaslee, J., upon motion of the defendants, subject to the plaintiff’s exception.
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Case, for negligence. Transferred from the November term, 1901, of the superior court. At the close of the plaintiff’s opening statement to the jury a nonsuit was ordered by Peaslee, J., upon motion of the defendants, subject to the plaintiff’s exception. The opening statement, so far as material, was substantially as follows: The plaintiff, at the time between nine and ten years of age, on June 25,1900, while walking along the railroad track from the Lakeport station to Messer-street crossing, at a point one fourth of a mile from either station or crossing, found lying beside the track a…
1Opinion of the CourtParsons, J.
If the unexploded torpedo lying beside the track rendered the defendants’ premises unsafe for the use which the plaintiff, a boy nine years old, was attempting to make of them, that fact does not establish that the defendants were guilty of negligence. Actionable negligence is the breach of a duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff. Where there is no duty there is no negligence. McGill v. Granite Co., 70 N. H. 125, 127. “The ownership of land imposes no duty upon the owner for the benefit of trespassers.” Davis v. Railroad, 70 N. H. 519, 520. Hence, in the words of the plaintiff’s brief,…
2Cases cited1 opinion
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- Morin v. Travelers InsuranceSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1932
- McCarthy v. New York, N. H. & H. R.Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1917
- Eves v. Littig Construction Co.Supreme Court of Iowa · 1927
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