Fitch v. Stevens
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Debt to recover the gross damages assessed for the plaintiffs, by a sheriff’s jury, against Stephen Stevens, under proceedings upon the Rev. Sts. c. 116, making provisions respecting the erection and regulation of mills.
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Debt to recover the gross damages assessed for the plaintiffs, by a sheriff’s jury, against Stephen Stevens, under proceedings upon the Rev. Sts. c. 116, making provisions respecting the erection and regulation of mills. The action was founded on § 24 of said chapter, which authorizes a party, who has obtained a verdict for annual compensation, or gross damages, for the flowing of his lands by means of a mill dam, to recover such damages, in an action of assumpsit or debt, “ against the person who shall own or occupy the mill when the action is brought.” At the trial before Dewey, J. at the…
1Opinion of the CourtHubbard, J.
This is an action of debt, founded on the Rev. Sts. c. 116, § 24, and is the same case which is reported m 2 Met. 505. It was originally commenced against Stephen Stevens and Jonathan C. Stevens, but leave was given to discontinue against Stephen, and to prosecute the suit against Jonathan C. alone. From the facts proved on the further hearing of the case, it appears that in the spring or summer of 1836, Stephen Stevens built a dam on his own premises, but never erected any mill upon it; that in 1837, the plaintiffs instituted their complaint against him for flowing their lands in consequenco…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Stowell v. FlaggMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1814
- Johnston v. FergusonCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1859