Dickinson v. Town of Rockingham
Supreme Court of Vermont
Case for injury caused by the insufficiency of a highway. Plea, not guilty, and trial by jury, April term, 1871, Windham County, Barrett, J., presiding. The injury occurred on the evening of the 5th of November, 1869, near Saxtons River village. A public highway and important thoroughfare has for many years existed between said village and Grafton, which the defendant was bound to maintain.
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Case for injury caused by the insufficiency of a highway. Plea, not guilty, and trial by jury, April term, 1871, Windham County, Barrett, J., presiding. The injury occurred on the evening of the 5th of November, 1869, near Saxtons River village. A public highway and important thoroughfare has for many years existed between said village and Grafton, which the defendant was bound to maintain. In the October freshet of 1869, a piece of that highway in the westerly part of said village, was washed out, and rendered wholly impassable. While it was thus impassable, the travel between Grafton and…
1DissentWheeler, J.
So far as the decision made in this case holds that the defendant town would be liable to a traveler who was using the highway for the purposes of through travel, and was necessarily turned on to the by-way in order to prosecute his journey beyond the obstruction, there is no disagreement among the members of the court; but where the decision goes beyond that, and holds the defendant liable to the plaintiff, who was not turned on to the by-way at all on account of the obstruction in the highway, but who would have used the by-way, just as she did, if the highway had been in good condition and…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Batty v. Town of DuxburySupreme Court of Vermont · 1852
- Young v. Town of WheelockSupreme Court of Vermont · 1846