Goldsmith's Admr. v. Joy
Supreme Court of Vermont
Trespass for an assault and battery, alleged to have been committed by the defendant upon the plaintiff’s intestate. Plea, the general issue, and trial by jury at the December Teim, 1887, Powers, J., presiding. Yerdict and judgment for the plaintiff. Exceptions by the defendant. The defendant did not deny that he made the assault.
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Trespass for an assault and battery, alleged to have been committed by the defendant upon the plaintiff’s intestate. Plea, the general issue, and trial by jury at the December Teim, 1887, Powers, J., presiding. Yerdict and judgment for the plaintiff. Exceptions by the defendant. The defendant did not deny that he made the assault. D appeared, however, that at the time and just before, hot words had passed between the parties, and the defendant claimed that he committed the wrong under the influence of the passion induced by the insulting and unjustifiable language of the plaintiff and that…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Tyler, J.
The court instructed the jury that-there was no -defense to the claim for actual or compensatory damages ; that words were no legal excuse for the infliction of personal violence ; that no matter how great the provocation, the defendant was • bound in any event to answer for these damages.
It is a general and wholesome rule of law that whenever, by -an act which he could have avoided and which cannot be justified in law, a person inflicts an immediate injury by force, he is .legally answerable in damages to the party injured.
*493The question…
2Cases cited27 opinions
- Voltz v. . BlackmarNew York Court of Appeals · 1876
- Kiff v. . YoumansNew York Court of Appeals · 1881
- Earl v. TupperSupreme Court of Vermont · 1873
- Johnson v. McKeeMichigan Supreme Court · 1873
- Corcoran v. HarranWisconsin Supreme Court · 1882
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3Cited by17 opinions
- Woodhouse v. Woodhouse Et Ux.Supreme Court of Vermont · 1925
- Marriott v. WilliamsCalifornia Supreme Court · 1908
- Hess v. MarinariWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1918
- Greenmoss Builders, Inc. v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc.Supreme Court of Vermont · 1983
- Pezzano v. BonneauSupreme Court of Vermont · 1974
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