Metcalf v. Hess
Illinois Supreme Court
This case was heard before O. C. Skinner, Judge, and a jury, at the March term, 1852, of the Adams Circuit Court. This was an action originally commenced before a justice of the peace, by Metcalf against Hess, for the value of a mare belonging to the former, and which got bung to death in the stable of the latter. Metcalf being at the time a.guest of Hess, and the mare being in the possession of Hess, as an innkeeper in the city of Quincy, in the State of Illinois.
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This case was heard before O. C. Skinner, Judge, and a jury, at the March term, 1852, of the Adams Circuit Court. This was an action originally commenced before a justice of the peace, by Metcalf against Hess, for the value of a mare belonging to the former, and which got bung to death in the stable of the latter. Metcalf being at the time a.guest of Hess, and the mare being in the possession of Hess, as an innkeeper in the city of Quincy, in the State of Illinois. Metcalf recovered a judgment before the justice, from which Hess took an appeal to the circuit court, where a judgment was…
1Opinion of the CourtTrumbull, J.
The evidence in this case, under the law as laid down to the jury, would have warranted a verdict either way; consequently, the court committed no error in its refusal to set aside the verdict as contrary to evidence; and the only questions in the cqse arise upon the instructions.
" If innkeepers, "like common carriers, assume the responsibility of insurers, and are liable for all losses, except such as happen from inevitable accident, without the intervention of man, or from public enemies, then the law was wrongly given to the jury; but if they are only primé facie responsible for a loss…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Hill v. OwenIndiana Supreme Court · 1840
3Cited by4 opinions
- Johnson v. RichardsonIllinois Supreme Court · 1855
- Rockhill v. Congress Hotel Co.Illinois Supreme Court · 1908
- Eden v. DreyAppellate Court of Illinois · 1898
- Gross v. Saratoga European Hotel & Restaurant Co.Appellate Court of Illinois · 1912