Morris v. Board of Commissioners of Switzerland County
| Decision Date | 28 April 1892 |
| Docket Number | 15,781 |
| Citation | 31 N.E. 77,131 Ind. 285 |
| Parties | Morris v. The Board of Commissioners of Switzerland County |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
From the Switzerland Circuit Court.
Judgment affirmed, with costs.
F. M Griffith, for appellant.
G. S Pleasants, for appellee.
The appellant was confined in the jail of Switzerland county from the 10th day of December, 1887, to the 10th day of December 1888, by an order of the Switzerland Circuit Court, in pursuance of a judgment of said court on a charge of bastardy, and he brings this action for damages alleged to have been sustained by him on account of the condition of the jail, alleged to have become and to have remained out of repair on account of the failure and neglect of the board of commissioners of said county to put and keep it in repair, as is made their duty by statute; that said jail was badly ventilated, damp, dark and filled with impure and obnoxious air and gases, alleging in detail facts which made the jail unhealthy, and that the impure and unwholesome gases and odors escaping from the same had caused sickness in the neighborhood and in the family of the jailer.
There was a demurrer sustained to the complaint and exceptions reserved, and the ruling assigned as error.
The facts pleaded are sufficient to make a good complaint if the county was liable on account of such failure of duty on the part of the board of commissioners, or for damages resulting on account of a failure to keep the county jail in a pure and inhabitable condition.
The appellant cites and relies upon the sections of the statute making it the duty of boards of commissioners to build and keep in repair county jails, and the decisions of this court holding counties liable for injuries sustained by reason of defective bridges constructed by the counties. As to the rule holding counties liable for defective bridges, now so well settled in this State, in the case of Board, etc v. Chipps, ante, p. 56, it was said: "The decided weight of authority is that, in the absence of a statute upon the subject, a county is not liable for a failure to keep its bridges in repair." This being true, while the doctrine as to bridges is so well settled that it should not be changed by judicial decision, yet it affords a valid reason for not extending the doctrine to another class of cases, even if the logic of the rule would seem to include them. The most logical and...
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State ex rel. Bd. of Com'rs of Hendricks Cnty. v. Bd. of Com'rs of Marion Cnty.
...N. E. 272, and cases cited; Board, etc., v. Dailey, 132 Ind. 73, 31 N. E. 531;Smith v. Board, 131 Ind. 116, 30 N. E. 949;Morris v. Board, etc., 131 Ind. 285, 31 N. E. 77;White v. Board, etc., 129 Ind. 396, 28 N. E. 846;Summers v. Board, etc., 103 Ind. 262, 2 N. E. 725, 53 Am. Rep. 512. “The......
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State ex rel. Bd. of Com'rs of Hendricks Cnty. v. Bd. of Com'rs of Marion Cnty.
...404, 37 N. E. 272, and cases cited; Board v. Daily, 132 Ind. 73, 31 N. E. 531;Smith v. Board, 131 Ind. 116, 30 N. E. 949;Morris v. Board, 131 Ind. 285, 31 N. E. 77;White v. Board, 129 Ind. 396, 28 N. E. 846;Summers v. Board, 103 Ind. 262, 2 N. E. 725, 53 Am. Rep. 512. If such powers are del......
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State ex rel. Board of Commissioners of County of Hendricks v. Board of Commissioners of County of Marion
... ... Daily (1892), ... 132 Ind. 73, 31 N.E. 531; Smith v. Board, ... etc. (1892), 131 Ind. 116, 30 N.E. 949; Morris ... v. Board, etc. (1892), 131 Ind. 285, 31 N.E. 77; ... White v. Board, etc. (1891), 129 Ind. 396, ... 28 N.E. 846; Summers v. Board, ... ...
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Bd. of Com'rs of Jasper Cnty. v. Allman
...decisions to the effect claimed, we cite the following: Cones v. Board, supra; Smith v. Board, 131 Ind. 116, 30 N. E. 949;Morris v. Board, 131 Ind. 285, 31 N. E. 77;Board v. Daily, 132 Ind. 73, 31 N. E. 531;Hollenbeck v. Winnebago Co., 95 Ill. 148;Templeton v. Linn Co., 22 Or. 313, 29 Pac. ......