Hall v. Seaboard Air Line Ry. Co.

(dissenting) : I cannot concur with Mr. Justice Cothran in his opinion in this case. Wilson v. Railway Co., 65 S. C., 421; 43 S. E., 964, is binding authority. Unquestionably this Court had the right to overrule a case that has erroneously stated the law. Whether the measure of damages is the value of the thing destroyed or the difference in value before and after the fire is, in my judgment, immaterial in this case. It is just as impossible for a witness to estimate the actual, as the comparative values, when the value of the thing destroyed is not known. For this reason the iron safe clause…