Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Kenney

• Decision Date: 03 April 1916
• Docket Number: No. 269,269
• Citation: 36 S.Ct. 458,240 U.S. 489,60 L.Ed. 762
• Parties: SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILWAY, Plff. in Err., v. S. W. KENNEY, Administrator of Beb Isaac Capehart, alias Beb Isaac Eason
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

240 U.S. 489

36 S.Ct. 458

60 L.Ed. 762

SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILWAY, Plff. in Err.,

v S. W. KENNEY, Administrator of Beb Isaac Capehart, alias Beb Isaac Eason.

No. 269.

Argued March 10, 1916.

Decided April 3, 1916.

Mr. Murray Allen for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 490 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Francis D. Winston and J. H. Matthews for defendant in error.

Mr. Chief Justice White delivered the opinion of the court:

The trial court on the verdict of a jury entered judgment against the plaintiff in error for the sum of $800 for the negligent killing of Capehart, who was one of its employees, and this writ of error is prosecuted to reverse the action of the court below, affirming such judgment. 167 N. C. 14, L.R.A. ——, ——, 82 S. E. 968. At the time of his death Capehart was a minor and was employed by the defendant company as a switchman. The accident occurred in North Carolina on an interstate freight train moving from a point in North Carolina to one in Virginia. The suit to recover was specifically based on the employers' liability act of April 22, 1908, 35 Stat. at L. 65, chap. 149, as amended April 5, 1910, 36 Stat. at L. 291, chap. 143, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8662, and as both parties concede that that act was applicable, that subject may be put out of view.

The deceased was a natural or illegitimate child, born in North Carilina, and the next of kin for whose benefit the administrator sued, he having been qualified at the alleged domicil of the deceased in North Carolina, were three minor children of the deceased's mother, the issue of a marriage by her contracted after his birth, she, the mother, being dead at the time of the accident. child, born in North Carolina, and the next below as to nonliability because of an absence of negligence, since, as pointed out by the court, the sole contention pressed upon it for reversal was that the damages for the death had been awarded to persons who were not entitled to the recovery as next of kin under the act of Congress, even although they were the next of kin by the law of the state. Thus the court said: 'The sole contention of the defendant requiring our consideration is that the expression 'next of kin,' as used in § 1 of this act [the act of Congress], is to be construed by the common law, disregarding the state law defining those words.' After then quoting from the state statute on the subject, the court further said: 'It is very clear that in North Carolina the two half brothers and the sister of the intestate are his next of kin. It seems to us immaterial whether it were formerly otherwise in this state, either by statute or the common law before any statute. The question is, Who was the 'next of kin' at the time of such death in the state where the wrongful death occurred?' Proceeding to examine and decide this question, it was held that next of kin for the purpose of the recovery under the act of Congress were the next of kin as established by the law of the state where the right to recover obtained. And it is the correctness of this ruling which we are alone called upon to consider, since, despite the great number of assignments of error which are made, they all in last analysis depend upon that question. We need not stop to review the assignments to demonstrate this fact, since in argument they are all stated as embracing the solution of three inquiries, which, as we shall see when we consider them, will be virtually disposed of by deciding the single question concerning the correctness of the ruling of the court below as to the next of kin under the statute. The three questions thus stated are in substance as follows: First, whether the minor children, who, under the law of North Carolina, were the next of kin of their natural or illegitimate brother, because of their common motherhood, were the the next of kin under the act of Congress? Second, if, in the absence of a parent, they were so, would the proof of the existence of an asserted father of the deceased make such person his parent within the act of Congress, excluding the right of the next of kin to recover the damages? Third, if the minor brothers and sister were next of kin under the act of Congress, had they such dependency on the deceased as gave them any right to recover under the act?

We consider the questions separately.

1. There can be now no question that the act of Congress in so far as it deals with the subjects to which it relates is paramount and exclusive. It is therefore not disputable that recovery under the act can be had alone in the mode and by and for the persons or class of persons in whose favor the law creates and bestows a right of action. Second Employers' Liability Cases (Mondou v. New York N. H. & H. R. Co.) 223 U. S. 1, 56 L. ed. 327, 38 L.R.A.(N.S.) 44, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 169, 1 N. C. C. A. 875; Michigan C. R. Co. v. Vreeland, 227 U. S. 59, 57 L. ed. 417, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 192, Ann. Cas. 1914C, 179; Taylor v. Taylor, 232 U. S. 363, 58 L. ed. 638, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 350, 6 N. C. C. A. 436; Seaboard Air Line R. Co. v. Horton, 233 U. S. 492, 501, 58 L. ed. 1062, 1068, L.R.A.1915C, 1, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 635, Ann. Cas. 1915B, 475, 8 N. C. C. A. 834. But this is irrelevant, since the controversy concerns only the meaning of the act, which it is conceded, when rightly interpreted, is entitled to exclusive operation.

Plainly the statute contains no definition of who are to constitute the next of kin to whom a right of recovery is granted. But, as speaking generally under our dual system of government, who are next of kin is determined by the legislation of the various states to whose authority that subject is normally committed, it would seem to be clear that the absence of a definition in the act of Congress plainly indicates the purpose of Congress to leave the determination of that question to the state law. But, it is urged, as next of kin was a term well known at common law, it is to be presumed that the words were used as having their common-law significance, and therefore as excluding all persons not included in the term under the common law; meaning, of...