Inhabitants of China v. Southwick
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
This was an action of the case, brought to recover damages for an injury done to the plaintiffs’ bridge, at the head of Tivelve mile pond, by a head of water, raised, as they alleged, by the defendant’s dam at the outlet of the pond.
Read the full summary
This was an action of the case, brought to recover damages for an injury done to the plaintiffs’ bridge, at the head of Tivelve mile pond, by a head of water, raised, as they alleged, by the defendant’s dam at the outlet of the pond. It appeared, on trial before the Chief Justice, that the defendants raised the water, by means of their dam, from five to seven feet — that the injury complained of was done on the 9th of April, 1831 — and that, from the latter part of March, in that year, through the month of April, the waters of the Kennebec were unusually high, and during a part of that…
1Opinion of the Court
Weston C. J.
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The jury have found that the head of waterj raised by.the defendants’ dam, was not, at the period complained of, high enough to flow the plaintiffs’ bridge, or to do damage thereto. Its erection then was a lawful act, not in itself calculated to do any injury to the plaintiffs. Their loss was occasioned, as the jury have found, by great rains or by the violence of the wind. If the dam had not raised the water to a certain height, the rain or the wind superadded might not have done the damage. It uiay have been one then of a series of causes, to…
2Cited by5 opinions
- Nashua Iron & Steel Co. v. Worcester & Nashua RailroadSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1882
- Town of Bennington v. Fillmore & SladeSupreme Court of Vermont · 1925
- Central, Trust Co. v. Wabash, St. L. & P. Ry. Co.U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Indiana · 1893
- Hannaher v. St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba RailroadSupreme Court Of The Territory Of Dakota · 1888
- Ohio & Mississippi Railway Co. v. NuetzelAppellate Court of Illinois · 1892