Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway Co. v. Foster

This was a qui tam action brought by Foster to recover the penalty of fifty dollars imposed upon railways, for a failure to sound a whistle or ring a bell for eighty rods before arriving at a crossing. There was a recovery in the Circuit Court, and the defendant appealed.

It is first urged for the appellant, that the suit should have been brought in the name of the people. It is true, as counsel suggest, that the 42d section of the act authorizes suit to be brought by the prosecuting attorney in the name of the people, for the recovery of all penalties imposed by the act, and the penalties…