McCrea v. Marsh
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Action of tort for forcibly excluding the plaintiff from a theatre in Boston, called the Howard Athenaeum. At the trial in the superior court of Suffolk at September terrr, 1857, the plaintiff, who was a colored person, introduced evidence tending to show that he bought of the defendant, at the box office of the theatre, a ticket of the usual size and form of tickets of admission to places of amusement, on which were printed the words, “ Marsh’s Juvenile Comedians.
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Action of tort for forcibly excluding the plaintiff from a theatre in Boston, called the Howard Athenaeum. At the trial in the superior court of Suffolk at September terrr, 1857, the plaintiff, who was a colored person, introduced evidence tending to show that he bought of the defendant, at the box office of the theatre, a ticket of the usual size and form of tickets of admission to places of amusement, on which were printed the words, “ Marsh’s Juvenile Comedians. Family Circle. R. G. Marsh; ” and, holding this ticket in his hand, went up the staircase leading to the “ family circle,” and at…
1Opinion of the CourtMetcalf, J.
It was correctly ruled, at the trial, that, the plaintiff could not maintain this action, and that his remedy, if any, was by an action of contract. We therefore need not express an opinion concerning any of the other rulings.
Assuming that the plaintiff, by purchase of the ticket from the defendant, obtained permission to enter the family circle in the Howard Athenseum, in his own person, and occupy a place *213there during the exhibition, yet it was “ only an executory contract.” It was a license legally revocable, and was revoked before it was in any part executed. After it was revoked, the…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Foot v. New Haven & Northampton Co.Supreme Court of Connecticut · 1854
- Jamieson v. MillemannThe Superior Court of New York City · 1854
3Cited by2 opinions
- Collister v. . HaymanNew York Court of Appeals · 1905
- Horney v. NixonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1905