Towne v. Nashua & Lowell Railroad
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for the killing of a horse on the Nashua and Wilton Railroad, by the defendant’s locomotive engine, the railroad being leased and operated by the defendant.
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Tort for the killing of a horse on the Nashua and Wilton Railroad, by the defendant’s locomotive engine, the railroad being leased and operated by the defendant. Trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions in substance as follows: It appeared that the plaintiff, at the time of the accident, was the owner of a farm in New Hampshire, lying on both sides of the railroad and of a highway; that the plaintiff’s barn was on the south side of and quite near the railroad track, and his house and pasture were on the north side of the track, and that the land between…
1Opinion of the Court
Mobtoít, J.
The ruling of the Superior Court was based upon the assumption .that the plaintiff’s horse, at the time he was killed, was an estray trespassing upon the railroad. If this assumption was correct, the ruling was right. Darling v. Boston & Albany Railroad, 121 Mass. 118, and cases cited.
But we are of opinion that it was a question of fact for the jury to determine whether the horse went upon the railroad through the negligence of the plaintiff or his servants. The plaintiff’s farm extended on both sides of the railroad and of the highway, which at this point ran for a considerable…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Darling v. Boston & Albany RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1876
3Cited by4 opinions
- Hohl v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.Supreme Court of Minnesota · 1895
- Parker v. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co.Michigan Supreme Court · 1892
- Lincoln v. Great Northern Railway Co.North Dakota Supreme Court · 1913
- Taft v. New York, Providence, & Boston RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1892