Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 22.pdf/328

 The Green Bag

308

the rule, it was held that the evidence was rightly admitted. The Court thus disapproved of the rule stated in the following authorities cited by the Court: Fonds v. St. Paul City Ry. Co., 71 Minn. 433, 70 Am. St. Rep. 341; Isaocson

v. Duluth Street Ry. Co. (Minnesota) 77 N. W. 433. The Court preferred to adopt the rule in these cases: Lyman v. Boston, etc., R. R. (N._ H.), 11 L. R. A. 364; Chicago Railway v. Krayenbuhl, 65 Neb. 889, 59 L. R. A. 920; Lake Shore, etc., v. Ward (Ill.) 26 N. E. 520; Railroad v. Williams, 74 Ga. 723; reaﬂirmed in Atlanta Con. St. Ry. Co. v. Bates, 103 Ga.

occurred while he was doing work under the direction of a foreman, and he brought suit against his employer for the negligence of the foreman in not warning him of the dangerous character of the work, nor giving him the proper tools with which to do it, it was held, that as the foreman was a fellow servant of the plaintiff, the latter could have no common law ground of recovery. Where the plaintiff had elected to base his case upon the common law liability of the master, rather than upon that arising under employer's liability legislation, and a statute (St. 1909, c. 236) enabled the Supreme Ju

dicial Court to expedite the ﬁnal determina

330, 30 S. H. 41.

Duty of Owner to Light Premises Does Not Require Uniform Light Throughout Entire Length of Stairways. N. Y. The New York Court of Appeals has decided that a descent of two steps from a main oﬂice to a wareroom, the ﬁrst step being well lighted but the second being in shadow, does not

constitute such a dangerous condition as to make a defendant liable for injuries received by a customer. Weller v. Consolidated Gas Co., decided March 4 (N. Y. Law Jour., March 19).

tion of causes by directing the trial court, by rescript, to enter judgment in accordanrx with a ruling sustaining exceptions to the action of the trial court in not directing a verdict either for or against the plaintiﬁ upon all the evidence, it was held that this statute was not mandatory, and the Court was not compelled to order judgment in favor of the defendant, but that the trial court might now determine whether or not justice would require that the plaintiﬁ be allowed to substitute a statutory for a com mon law claim.

The Court, per Willard Bartlett, 1., said:—

"A rule of law which required all stairways of whatever length in every shop, store, hotel or building to which the public are invited to be uniformly lighted throughout their whole length would impose a burden much greater than is required for the protec

tion of the community.

It is ordinarily

sufficient to light such a stairway sufficiently to disclose its existence and character. The persons who make use of it can reasonably be expected to exercise their faculties to some extent in order to ascertain its precise length." Police Power.

See Carriers.

Procedure. Expediting Act Permitting Entering of Final judgment According to all the Evidence in the Lower Court Need Not Deprive 0 Plaintiff of Right to Press his Suit on Statutory Courts, when he has Elected Common Law Counts-Employer's Liability. Mass. In Stone 6’ Webster Engineering Corpora tion v.

Grebenstein, decided March 26, the

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts for the ﬁrst time construed a new expediting act.

Where a workman lost one eye in conse quence of an electrical explosion which

Public Service Corporations. Statute Fix ing Rates for Transportation of Coal Consti tutional. U. S. In Northern Paciﬁc Ry. Co. v. North Dakota, decided March 14, the North Dakota coal rate law of 1907 was held constitutional for the present by the Supreme Court of the United States, despite the claim of the railroad that the law requires the transporta tion of coal below the cost of service. In affirming the decision of the state Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Holmes said that there were so many uncertainties about the rate being conﬁscatory that the Court felt it was not justiﬁed in overruling the state court, which held the law would not prove conﬁscatory, if put into eﬁect. The afﬁrmance was made, however, with the statement that

it should not prejudice the case of the railroads if after the law went into eﬁect it should prove conﬁscatory. Public Service Corporations Cannot be Compelled by a State to Furnish Better Service when Interstate Commerce would be Burdened.

U. S. The Supreme Court of Arkansas having attempted to ﬁne the St. Louis Southwestern Railway for failure to supply more cars for