Holman v. Inhabitants of Townsend
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an action of trespass upon the case, originally brought before a justice of the peace, in March 1846, by an inhabitant of Lunenburg, in the county of Worcester, a town adjoining Townsend, for an alleged injury caused by the obstruction of a highway by snow and ice. The defendants demurred to the plaintiff’s declaration, and the justice overruled the demurrer, and gave judgment for the plaintiff, for five dollars damage, and costs of suit.
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This was an action of trespass upon the case, originally brought before a justice of the peace, in March 1846, by an inhabitant of Lunenburg, in the county of Worcester, a town adjoining Townsend, for an alleged injury caused by the obstruction of a highway by snow and ice. The defendants demurred to the plaintiff’s declaration, and the justice overruled the demurrer, and gave judgment for the plaintiff, for five dollars damage, and costs of suit. The defendants thereupon appealed to the court of common pleas; and in thai court the plaintiff, by leave first obtained, filed a new declaration,…
1Opinion of the CourtShaw, C. J.
The court are clearly of opinion that this action cannot be maintained on the Rev. Sts. c. 25, § 22. They give a remedy to any one who has received “ any injury in his person or property by reason of any defect, or want of repair.” The construction, which has been put on this provision, and which we consider a just one, is, that it must be a damage sustained in using the road, and also in using it with due care and skill. Tisdale v. Inhabitauts of Norton, 8 Met. 388. Adams v. Inhabitants of Carlisle, 21 Pick. 146. The special damage, for which this statute gives a remedy, must be one of which…
2Cases cited1 opinion
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