Goodale v. Worcester Agricultural Society
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff while engaged in a trial of speed on the defendants’ track at their annual exhibition in 1867, by coming in collision with a horse and sulky driven by Ezra W. Marble.
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Tort to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff while engaged in a trial of speed on the defendants’ track at their annual exhibition in 1867, by coming in collision with a horse and sulky driven by Ezra W. Marble. After trial in the superior court and verdict for the plaintiff, Devens, J. allowed a bill of exceptions substantially as follows: “It appeared in evidence that prior to said exhibition the defendants had offered a ‘ premium of $25 for the best exhibition of speed, to saddle, for running horses; ’ that, in accordance with said offer, the plaintiff paid the…
1Opinion of the CourtChapman, C. J.
By the Gen. Sts. c. 167, § 9, all racing, running, trotting or pacing of any horse or other animal for a purse or stake is declared to be unlawful; and all persons engaged in it, or aiding or abetting the same, are subject to fine or imprisonment. But by the St. of 1865, c. 67, this section is not to be so construed as to make unlawful trials of the speed of horses for premiums offered by legally constituted agricultural societies. The defendants are such a society, and had offered a premium of $25 for the best exhibition of the speed of running horses at their annual exhibition on their own…
2Cited by1 opinion
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