Scales v. City of Winston-Salem

Negligence cannot be imputed to tbe sovereign, and for this reason, in tbe absence of a statute, no private action for tort can be maintained against tbe State. It follows that such an action will not lie against a municipal corporation for damages resulting from the exercise of governmental functions as an agency of the sovereign power. “The rule is firmly established in our law,” says McQuillin, “that where the municipal corporation is performing a duty imposed upon it as the agent of the State in the exercise of strictly governmental functions, there is no liability to private action on…