Brown v. Mohawk & Hudson Rail Road
New York Court of Appeals
John Brown, the defendant in error, sued the Mohawk and Hudson Rail Road Company in 1837, in an action on the case for negligence, in the construction of the defendants’ Rail Road embankment and bridge, along and over Mill Creek in the city of Schenectady, by means whereof a flood in March 1832, swept away the bridge, and with it, the plaintiff’s buildings and tannery which stood west of the embankment and bridge. The declaration contained seven counts.
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John Brown, the defendant in error, sued the Mohawk and Hudson Rail Road Company in 1837, in an action on the case for negligence, in the construction of the defendants’ Rail Road embankment and bridge, along and over Mill Creek in the city of Schenectady, by means whereof a flood in March 1832, swept away the bridge, and with it, the plaintiff’s buildings and tannery which stood west of the embankment and bridge. The declaration contained seven counts. As there was a question raised, on the second trial upon a motion for a non suit that the plaintiff’s declaration was insufficient to cover…
1Opinion of the Court 1
The following is the opinion of the Supreme Court:
Nelson, Ch. J.
The defendants having a right, by the act of incorporation, to build the embankment and bridge over Mill creek, the only question in the case is, whether the wrork has been so negligently and unskillfully done as to have occasioned the injury complained of. If not, and it has been brought about by an act of providence, which neither human foresight nor care could reasonably guard against, the calamity is the misfortune of the plaintiff, and it would be something more than unjust to transfer it to another.
It is insisted as a…
Also in this document: Opinion of the Court · Gardiner.
2Cases cited24 opinions
- Beekman v. Saratoga & Schenectady Rail RoadNew York Court of Chancery · 1831
- Jackson Ex Dem. Astor v. CraneSupreme Court of the United States · 1831
- Thurston v. HancockMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1815
- Camden v. DoremusSupreme Court of the United States · 1845
- Jefferson Insurance v. H. & D. Cotheal.New York Supreme Court · 1831
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