Plotzki v. Standard Oil Co.

DISSENTING OPINION

Emmert, C. J.

Courts, in declaring the common law, of necessity lag behind the collective sentiment and judgment of the people in the establishment of duties, rights and remedies. This delay is desirable from the standpoint of the stability of the law. 1 But when a decision and the reasoning to sustain it retrogresses to the laissez faire philosophy of the Industrial Revolution, an appeal by way of dissent should be made “to the brooding spirit of the law, to the intelligence of a future day.” Hughes, The Supreme Court of the United States (1947 Edition), p. 68.

It will not be…