Knight v. Luce

• Decision Date: 06 January 1875
• Citation: 116 Mass. 586
• Parties: Edward G. Knight v. Samuel W. Luce
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

116 Mass. 586

Edward G. Knight v. Samuel W. Luce

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

January 6, 1875

Argued November 10, 1874

Suffolk. Tort for personal injuries caused by the negligence of William B. Taylor, alleged to be the servant of the defendant, in building fires in front of the premises of the defendant, along the line of the Jerusalem Road, so called, a public highway in the town of Cohasset, whereby the horse which the plaintiff was driving was caused to run away, and the plaintiff thereby severely injured.

At the trial in the Superior Court, before Brigham, C. J., it was admitted that the Jerusalem Road was a public highway, and that the premises were the property of the defendant. It appeared in evidence that the defendant's lands, at some distance back from the road, were first cleared by Taylor that the bushes and brush thereon were first cut, piled in heaps and burned; that after thus clearing said grounds back from the road, Taylor proceeded to clear up the defendant's grounds along the road within and without the boundary of the road in front of the defendant's premises in the same manner; that Taylor cut the brush and bushes along and within the limits of the road and piled them up in heaps within two feet of an old stone wall marking the boundary of the road, in front of the defendant's premises and on the side next thereto, and set fire to three heaps thus made.

Taylor was called as a witness for the defendant, and testified among other things, that the defendant gave him general orders to mow and burn the bushes on his, the defendant's, lands, and generally to clear up his lands, that he had no special orders from the defendant; that he had done such business for many years, and that he did the work in the same manner as he always did in clearing lands. He further testified that Luce was there, after he had cleared a part of the grounds back from the road and burned some of the brush, and directed him to go on and clear up the lands.

The defendant testified that Taylor came to him for employment to clear up his lands, that he told Taylor to go ahead and clear them up, that he went down after Taylor had cleared up the back part of his premises, saw that the bushes had been burned, and directed him to proceed and clear up his front lands, and that he gave no instructions as to fires one way or the other.

Among other things, to which exceptions were taken, the judge instructed...