Smart v. . Rodgers

The appellants’ principal assignment of error related to the charge of the court below wherein the jury was instructed that the violation of a criminal statute “such as the court has read to you” was negligence per se. The court had just read to the jury the speed regulations prescribed by ch. 407, Public Laws 1937, the statute in force at the time of the injury complained of. Exceeding the speed limits mentioned in that act, however, is not made a substantive criminal offense but constitute merely "prima facie evidence that the speed is not reasonable or prudent and that it is unlawful.”

While…