Keenan v. Southworth
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort against the postmaster of East Randolph, to recover damages for the loss, by the defendant’s negligence, of a letter addressed to the plaintiff. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., the plaintiff introduced evidence, not now necessary to report, that the letter was received at the post-office at East Randolph, and was lost by the negligence or wrongful conduct of one Bird, who was the postmaster’s clerk.
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Tort against the postmaster of East Randolph, to recover damages for the loss, by the defendant’s negligence, of a letter addressed to the plaintiff. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., the plaintiff introduced evidence, not now necessary to report, that the letter was received at the post-office at East Randolph, and was lost by the negligence or wrongful conduct of one Bird, who was the postmaster’s clerk. The plaintiff having disclaimed “ any actual participancy or knowledge of the acts of Bird on the part of the defendant,” the judge ruled that the defendant was not…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, J.
The law is well settled, in England and America, that the postmaster general, the deputy postmasters, and their assistants and clerks, appointed and sworn as required by law, are public officers, each of whom is responsible for his own negligence *475only, and not for that of any of the others, although selected by him, and subject to his orders. Lane v. Cotton, 1 Ld. Raym. 646; S. C.12 Mod. 472. Whitfield v. Le Despencer, Cowp. 754. Dunlop v. Munroe, 7 Cranch, 242. Schroyer v. Lynch, 8 Watts, 453. Bishop v. Williamson, 2 Fairf. 495. Hutchins v. Brackett, 2 Foster, 252.
The ruling at the trial was…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Dunlop v. MunroeSupreme Court of the United States · 1812
- Schroyer v. LynchSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1839
- Mishler v. Reed & HendersonSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1874
3Cited by13 opinions
- Ali Pineda v. Hamilton Cty., OhioCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 2020
- Robertson v. SichelSupreme Court of the United States · 1888
- Commonwealth ex rel. Orris v. RobertsSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1958
- Lajoie v. MillikenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1922
- Hawkins v. ThomasIndiana Court of Appeals · 1891
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