Pennsylvania Canal Co. v. Burd
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Perry county: Of May Term 1879, No. 81. Case by A. J. Burd against the Pennsylvania Canal Company.
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Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Perry county: Of May Term 1879, No. 81. Case by A. J. Burd against the Pennsylvania Canal Company. The declaration set forth that the Pennsylvania Canal Company, being the owner of the main line of the canal from Columbia to Wikesbarre, and having the authority to charge tolls on boats navigating their canal, are bound to keep the same filled with water, and to use due and reasonable care, skill and diligence in the management thereof, and that the defendants neglected to do so, but permitted the same to get out of order, and suffered logs and other…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Sterrett
In its relation to the defendant in error, the Pennsylvania Canal Company was neither a common carrier nor an insurer, nor liable as such. As owner and operator of a public water highway, formerly owned by the state, it was bound to so maintain and manage the canal that it could be used with reasonable safety and convenience by the public, for whose benefit it was constructed. To this end the duty of the company to the public demanded the exercise of reasonable and ordinary care; and it is by this standard its liability to the plaintiff below must be measured.
It follows from this that the…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Guinan v. Boston, Cape Cod & New York Canal Co.Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1924
- Saylor v. Pennsylvania Canal Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1897