Whipple v. Walpole
Superior Court of New Hampshire
Case, to recover damages for the loss of the plaintiff ’s horses, arising from a defect in a bridge, which the defendants were hound to repair.
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Case, to recover damages for the loss of the plaintiff ’s horses, arising from a defect in a bridge, which the defendants were hound to repair. In the course of enquiry as to the amount of damages sustained by the plaintiff, the plaintiff asked of a witness what horses, like those lost by the plaintiff, cost at Charlestown, in this state, near which place the loss occurred, and at which place the horses had been generally kept and employed most of the time, as a stage team, to transport the mail and passengers between Charlestown and'Walpole, in this state. To which enquiry the defendants…
1Opinion of the CourtWilcox, J.
It has been held, in this state, that a witness cannot he enquired of directly as to the value of land, horses, cattle, or other property of a similar character — that to receive such testimony would be to receive the opinion of the witnesses, in cases where they have no particular skill above the *131rest of the community. It is usual, therefore, to ask of witnesses a description of the property, its character and qualities, leaving it to the jury to assess its value. Rochester vs. Chester, 3 N. H. Rep. 349.
We are not inclined at present either to question the soundness of this opinion, or to…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Town of Rochester v. Town of ChesterSuperior Court of New Hampshire · 1826
3Cited by8 opinions
- Uriah A. Boyden, in Error v. Edmund BurkeSupreme Court of the United States · 1853
- Pulla v. Amoco Oil Co.District Court, S.D. Iowa · 1994
- Beard v. KirkSuperior Court of New Hampshire · 1840
- Robertson v. StarkSuperior Court of New Hampshire · 1844
- Marshall v. Columbian Mutual Fire InsuranceSuperior Court of New Hampshire · 1853
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