Burrell v. Lithgow
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an action of the case against the defendant, as sheriff of the county and keeper of the common jail, wherein the plaintiff declared against him, for that one Amos Partridge, under-keeper of said jail, for whose conduct in said office the defendant was answerable, did so carelessly and negligently keep and confine in said jail one Moses Lambert, who was committed to his custody upon mesne process in favor of the plaintiff, that he escaped out of said jail; and…
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This was an action of the case against the defendant, as sheriff of the county and keeper of the common jail, wherein the plaintiff declared against him, for that one Amos Partridge, under-keeper of said jail, for whose conduct in said office the defendant was answerable, did so carelessly and negligently keep and confine in said jail one Moses Lambert, who was committed to his custody upon mesne process in favor of the plaintiff, that he escaped out of said jail; and although the plaintiff, upon the said process, recoverec judgment against the said Lambert for 167 dollars and 7 cents damage,…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
The question before us is whether, in an action for an escape of a debtor committed on original process, and not on execution, through the insufficiency of the jail, the jury have no discretion, but are bound by law to find for the plaintiff his whole debt, although the debtor may in fact be insolvent and worth nothing.
It has been long settled that the jury are not obliged to find for the plaintiff his whole debt, when the debtor committed upon original process escapes through the negligence of the jailer; but it has been contended that the law is otherwise where the escape…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Colby v. SampsonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1809
- Porter v. SaywardMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1811
3Cited by11 opinions
- Patterson v. WesterveltNew York Supreme Court · 1837
- Taylor v. Johnson ex rel. A. W. & W. P. CarmichaelSupreme Court of Georgia · 1855
- Colby v. SampsonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1809
- Crawford v. AndrewsSupreme Court of Georgia · 1849
- Clark v. SmithSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1833
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