MacLennan v. Yee Wo Chan Co.

In the latter part of the year 1899, an epidemic of bubonic plague developed in Honolulu and continued for several months. The Board of Health during this period ordered the Eire Department to burn certain infected buildings. On the 20th of January, 1900, while the Eire Department, under orders of the Board of Health, was burning an infected building, other buildings caught fire accidently and such accidental fire was soon beyond the control of the Eire Department and a considerable portion of the town of Honolulu was destroyed before the flames were subdued. The Legislature of 1901 passed…