Curtis v. Eastern Railroad
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for discharging water upon the plaintiff’s land. At the new trial in the superior court, before Devens, J., after the decision reported 14 Allen, 55, the plaintiff’s evidence tended to show that he owned a lot of land in Gloucester, outside of the defendants’ location and bounded southerly on their railroad for several hundred yards, sloping so that while at the western end of this boundary the road bed was upon an embankment forty feet high, it was at the eastern end…
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Tort for discharging water upon the plaintiff’s land. At the new trial in the superior court, before Devens, J., after the decision reported 14 Allen, 55, the plaintiff’s evidence tended to show that he owned a lot of land in Gloucester, outside of the defendants’ location and bounded southerly on their railroad for several hundred yards, sloping so that while at the western end of this boundary the road bed was upon an embankment forty feet high, it was at the eastern end in a deep cut; that in building the railroad in 1846 natural springs were opened in this cut, and in 1860 thé trenches on…
1Opinion of the CourtHoak, J.
The rule which should govern the rights of the parties to this suit was stated in the opinion given upon the exceptions taken by the plaintiff which were argued at the last term, and appears to have been carefully followed by the court upon the new trial.
If the defendants conducted the water in an artificial channel to the plaintiff’s land, and there discharged it upon it, they would be liable in an action at common law for the injury it occasioned, unless they could justify the act on the ground of necessity, under the authority conferred by their charter. The 'atter ground of defence has…
2Cited by18 opinions
- Bates v. Inhabitants of WestboroughMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1890
- Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. JohnsonSupreme Court of Oklahoma · 1910
- Eaton v. B. C. & M. R. R.Supreme Court of New Hampshire · 1872
- Fortier v. H. P. Hood & Sons, Inc.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1940
- Hynes v. BrewerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1907
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