Ramsden v. Boston & Albany Railroad
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for an assault and battery. The declaration was as follows: “ And the plaintiffs say that Ellen Ramsden, the female plaintiff, on August 7, 1868, got on the cars belonging to the defendants, at Newton Corner in the county of Middlesex, to go to West Newton, between the hours of nine and ten in the evening; that on demand of one Twitchell, conductor of the train, a servant of the defendants, in their employ, she paid him fifteen cents for her fare to West Newton ; that…
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Tort for an assault and battery. The declaration was as follows: “ And the plaintiffs say that Ellen Ramsden, the female plaintiff, on August 7, 1868, got on the cars belonging to the defendants, at Newton Corner in the county of Middlesex, to go to West Newton, between the hours of nine and ten in the evening; that on demand of one Twitchell, conductor of the train, a servant of the defendants, in their employ, she paid him fifteen cents for her fare to West Newton ; that soon thereafter said Twitchell again called upon her for her fare, and she declined to pay him, as she had once paid him,…
1Opinion of the Court
Gray, J.*
A railroad corporation is liable, to the same extent as an individual would be, for an injury done by its servant in the course of his employment. Moore v. Fitchburg Railroad Co. 4 Gray, 465. Hewitt v. Swift, 3 Allen, 420. Holmes Wakefield, 12 Allen, 580. If the act of the servant is within the general scope of his employment, the master is equally liable, whether the act is wilful or merely negligent; Howe v Newmarch, 12 Allen, 49 ; or even if it is contrary to an express order of the master. Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Co. v. Derby, 14 How. 468.
*121The conductor of a railroad…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Philadelphia & Reading Railroad v. DerbySupreme Court of the United States · 1853
- Monument National Bank v. Globe WorksMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1869
3Cited by46 opinions
- Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co. v. PrenticeSupreme Court of the United States · 1893
- International & Great Northern Railway Co. v. AndersonTexas Supreme Court · 1891
- Craker v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1875
- New Jersey Steamboat Co. v. BrockettSupreme Court of the United States · 1887
- Aiken v. Holyoke Street Railway Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1903
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