Stockwell v. Inhabitants of Fitchburg
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort under the Gen. Sts. c. 44, § 22, to recover damages for personal injuries occasioned by the plaintiff’s falling on April 27, 1871, into a cellar stairway, alleged to be a defect in Main Street, a highway in the central village of Fitchburg, which the defendants were bound to keep in repair.
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Tort under the Gen. Sts. c. 44, § 22, to recover damages for personal injuries occasioned by the plaintiff’s falling on April 27, 1871, into a cellar stairway, alleged to be a defect in Main Street, a highway in the central village of Fitchburg, which the defendants were bound to keep in repair. Trial in the Superior Court, before I)evens, J., who, after a verdict for the defendants, allowed a bill of exceptions of which the following is the material part: “ The alleged defect consisted of an excavated passageway leading down by a series of stone steps to the cellar of a building belonging to…
1Opinion of the CourtChapman, C. J.
The accident happened in the central village of Fitchburg, and on or near Main Street. It appears by the plan that on the easterly side of the street is the hotel called the Rollstone House, and a building adjoining it called Patch’s Block. Main Street was relocated in 1850, and its easterly line as relocated appears on the plan. There was evidence tending to show that the public had used the space between the easterly line of the relocation and the Rollstone House and Patch’s Block for more than forty years, by travelling over it, and it is contended that it thereby became a way by…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Commonwealth v. Inhabitants of WestboroughMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1807
- Macomber v. City of TauntonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1868
- Murphy v. Inhabitants of GloucesterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1870
3Cited by15 opinions
- Doherty v. Inhabitants of AyerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1908
- Town of New Castle v. GrubbsIndiana Supreme Court · 1908
- Longley v. City of WorcesterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1939
- Lincoln v. CommonwealthMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1895
- Damon v. City of BostonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1889
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