Pratt v. Inhabitants of Amherst
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff by the collision of his carriage, on the evening of November 16, 1884, with a post standing on Main Street, a highway in the defend, ant town.
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Tort for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff by the collision of his carriage, on the evening of November 16, 1884, with a post standing on Main Street, a highway in the defend, ant town. Trial in the Superior Court, before Barker, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions, in substance as follows : The post in question was a part of a railing which had been erected under the direction of the defendant’s selectmen, acting also as highway surveyors, under a vote of the town. The railing was erected, as the defendant contended, for the purpose of guiding the travel over and upon a new…
1Opinion of the Court
Morton, 0. J.
The instruction requested was properly refused, because it was not applicable to the facts proved. It assumed that the selectmen had erected and maintained a railing for the purpose of marking the travelled part of the road, and that the post against which the plaintiff ran was a part of this railing.
The facts were, that they had not maintained such railing; and that, at the time of the accident, the post was standing by itself, not a part of a continuous railing. Besides, it is not the duty, nor within the power, of the selectmen to alter a highway *169or town way; and, if they…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Commonwealth v. CrowleyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1897
- Marschall v. AikenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1897