Jolley Ex Rel. Jolley v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

Two questions of law arise upon the record.

1. Can an unemancipated minor, living with and being supported by her father, recover for earnings lost by the failure to promptly deliver a telegram?

2. Was the plaintiff entitled to recover more than nominal damages?

The plaintiff was a graduate of Meredith College and had prepared herself to teach English and French in the schools of North Carolina. There was no evidence of express emancipation, but evidence of implied emancipation sufficient to support the verdict, was introduced at the trial. The doctrine of implied emancipation is fully…