Highway Trailer Co. v. Janesville Electric Co.

It has long been the rule in this state and in most jurisdictions that in the creation and operation of a waterworks system for protection against fire and other uses relating to the public health a municipality is exercising a governmental function and is not liable to its citizens for want of ordinary care on the part of its agents in protecting property from fire. Some of the reasons for this rule were stated by Mr. Chief Justice Dixon in an early case in this state, and are:

“That the corporation is engaged in the performance of a public service, in which it has no particular interest, and…