Books v. Borough of Danville
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Columbia county: Of May Term 1880, No. 54. Case by Curtis S. Books, administrator of Charlotte Books, deceased, against the borough of Danville, to recover damages for the death of his wife, the said Charlotte Books, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant in allowing an abutment on a bridge on one of its public streets to be unguarded.
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Error to the Court of Common Pleas of Columbia county: Of May Term 1880, No. 54. Case by Curtis S. Books, administrator of Charlotte Books, deceased, against the borough of Danville, to recover damages for the death of his wife, the said Charlotte Books, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant in allowing an abutment on a bridge on one of its public streets to be unguarded. On the evening of the 27th of October 1878, which was very dark, the wife of the plaintiff, in returning from church to her home, missed the bridge and fell from the top of the unguarded part of the…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Green
The maxim actio personalis moritur cum persona, was abrogated in Pennsylvania in cases of injuries resulting in death, by legislation, prior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1873. The Act of 15th April 1851 gave a right of action for such injuries to the personal representatives of the deceased. The effect of that act was to make the damages recovered in such actions general assets of the deceased in the hands of the representatives, and of course they were available to creditors in the first instance. It followed that in all cases of insolvent estates of such deceased persons, where…
2Cited by12 opinions
- Deni v. Pennsylvania RailroadSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1897
- Usher v. West Jersey R.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1889
- Dickinson v. JonesSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1932
- Potter Title & Trust Co. v. PetcoffSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1936
- Zeiger v. Pennsylvania R.U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Pennsylvania · 1907
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