Miles v. Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad
Supreme Court of Missouri
Appeal from Linn Circuit Court. I. The court below erred in overruling the demurrer to the plaintiff’s petition. Said petition was not founded on the statute entitled “ An act for the better security of life, property and character,” approved the 12th December, 1855, and the petition does not aver negligence or unskilfulness on the part of defendant’s officers, agents, or servants, in the running of defendant’s locomotive or cars on said railroad.
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Appeal from Linn Circuit Court. I. The court below erred in overruling the demurrer to the plaintiff’s petition. Said petition was not founded on the statute entitled “ An act for the better security of life, property and character,” approved the 12th December, 1855, and the petition does not aver negligence or unskilfulness on the part of defendant’s officers, agents, or servants, in the running of defendant’s locomotive or cars on said railroad. And this court will certainly not permit the plaintiff to avail himself of the provisions of so rigid and extraordinary a statute, without evincing…
1Opinion of the CourtNapton, Judge
The petition in this case is defective. It is impossible to conjecture on what grsiund the liability of the company is placed. Negligence and wilfulness are charged, and it is also alleged that the road was not fenced and that there were not cattle-guards at the crossings, but where the accident occurred is not stated. The evidence merely showed the *409killing of a cow by the locomotive. The instructions asked by the defendant were not the law. Negligence and unskilfulness on the part of the company’s agents were not essential to a recovery if the accident happened where there was no fence and…
2Cited by1 opinion
- Hoen v. Atlantic & Pacific RailroadSupreme Court of Missouri · 1877