Phelps v. Berkshire Street Railway Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort in the nature of trespass square clausum fregit for the alleged unlawful maintenance of poles, wires and fixtures upon the plaintiff’s land at Williamstown for conducting a high voltage electric current from the defendant’s power station in the town of Adams to Pownal in the State of Vermont.
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Tort in the nature of trespass square clausum fregit for the alleged unlawful maintenance of poles, wires and fixtures upon the plaintiff’s land at Williamstown for conducting a high voltage electric current from the defendant’s power station in the town of Adams to Pownal in the State of Vermont. Writ dated November 29, 1909. In the Superior Court the case was tried before Crosby, J. It appeared that the land in question was a farm belonging to the plaintiff, on which she lived with her husband and family and which was carried on by her husband; that on May 11, 1906* the plaintiff, being…
1Opinion of the CourtSheldon, J.
1. The plaintiff’s knowledge that the defendant had entered this land and put up poles and strung wires thereon is not necessarily fatal to her maintenance of the action. She was then merely a second mortgagee of the premises, and rightly or wrongly supposed that the consent of the owner of the equity of redemption gave the defendant the right to do what it did. But this did not authorize the defendant, after the plaintiff’s superior title had become absolute, to maintain its structures upon her land without her consent and against her prohibition. For such maintenance and the continued use…
2Cases cited6 opinions
- Leavitt v. Fiberloid Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1907
- Pye v. FaxonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1892
- French v. Connecticut River Lumber Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1887
- Beers v. McGinnisMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1906
- Benjamin v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1907
1 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by4 opinions
- Garver v. Public Service Company of New MexicoNew Mexico Supreme Court · 1966
- Ward v. McGloryMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1970
- Parker v. American Woolen Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1913
- Busada v. Ransom Motors, Inc.Court of Special Appeals of Maryland · 1976