Chenery v. Fitchburg Railroad

This is an action for running down the plaintiff at a point on the defendant’s track where it is crossed by a private way, along which she was travelling. The plaintiff asked for an instruction to the effect that, if people were in the habit of using the crossing and the defendant had made no objection, the plaintiff was not a trespasser, and the defendant was bound to use reasonable care to protect her. The judge refused this, but instructed the jury, in substance, that if, taking the whole condition of things into account, the physical condition of the crossing, the width of it, the extent…