Babson v. Inhabitants of Rockport
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Two actions of tort to recover for injuries alleged to have been caused to the plaintiffs by reason of a defect in a highway in Rockport; tried together before Foster, J., and by him reported substantially as follows: The plaintiffs started for a drive from Rockport to Gloucester, in a carriage drawn by one horse, on August 22,1867, and on the way met with the accident which caused the injuries in question.
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Two actions of tort to recover for injuries alleged to have been caused to the plaintiffs by reason of a defect in a highway in Rockport; tried together before Foster, J., and by him reported substantially as follows: The plaintiffs started for a drive from Rockport to Gloucester, in a carriage drawn by one horse, on August 22,1867, and on the way met with the accident which caused the injuries in question. It appeared from evidence put in by the plaintiffs, and from a plan, also introduced in evidence, that the part of the highway at which the accident occurred ran for forty or fifty feet…
1Opinion of the CourtChapman, C. J.
In order to render a town or city liable on account of an accident happening on a highway, it must happen to a traveller, and the defect of the way must be the sole cause of the injury. Rowell v. Lowell, 7 Gray, 100. Stickney v. Salem, 3 Allen, 374. If a horse gets loose and runs upon the highway, the town is not liable. Richards v. Enfield, 13 Gray, 344. In Davis v. Dudley, 4 Allen, 557, this principle was applied to a case where the horse escaped from his driver while travelling on the way. In Titus v. Northbridge, 97 Mass. 258, and Horton v. Tawnton, Ib. 266, it was applied to cases where…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Titus v. Inhabitants of NorthbridgeMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1867
3Cited by25 opinions
- Lynn Gas & Electric Co. v. Meriden Fire InsuranceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1893
- Malloy v. Township of WalkerMichigan Supreme Court · 1889
- City of Crawfordsville v. SmithIndiana Supreme Court · 1881
- Cook v. Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1898
- Hinckley v. Inhabitants of SomersetMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1887
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