Tighe v. Lowell

Decision Date13 January 1876
CitationTighe v. Lowell, 119 Mass. 472 (Mass. 1876)
PartiesMargaret Tighe v. City of Lowell
CourtUnited States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Middlesex.Tort for personal injuries occasioned by a defect in a public street, in the defendant city.The alleged defect was an open ditch excavated for a sewer, into which the plaintiff fell and broke her arm.

At the trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., the plaintiff, who was six years old at the time of the accident testified that she did not remember much about getting hurt that she was standing by the side of the sewer and fell in that she was playing tag with another little girl; that she went out from her mother's house, near by, to play with this little girl, and that she was not going anywhere else.

The judge ruled that there was no evidence which would authorize the jury to find that the plaintiff was a traveller upon the highway at the time of the accident, and directed them to return a verdict for the defendant; and after verdict reported the case for the consideration of this court.If upon the evidence the plaintiff was entitled to go to the jury, the verdict was to be set aside; otherwise judgment was to be rendered thereon.

Exceptions overruled.

C. A F. Swan, for the plaintiff, contended that the case should have been submitted to the jury; and cited ...

Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI

Get Started for Free

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant

  • Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database

  • Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength

  • Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities

  • Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

vLex

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant

  • Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database

  • Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength

  • Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities

  • Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

vLex

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant

  • Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database

  • Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength

  • Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities

  • Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

vLex

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant

  • Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database

  • Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength

  • Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities

  • Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

vLex

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant

  • Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database

  • Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength

  • Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities

  • Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

vLex

Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant

  • Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database

  • Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength

  • Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities

  • Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting

vLex
25 cases
  • McKenna v. Andreassi
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • October 5, 1935
    ...was not a traveller on the street for whose use the city was required to keep it in repair. Blodgett v. Boston, 8 Allen, 237; Tighe v. City of Lowell, 119 Mass. 472. ‘ public ways of the commonwealth are not laid out as playgrounds for children.’ O'Brien v. Hudner, 182 Mass. 381, 382, 65 N.......
  • Irvine v. Town of Greenwood
    • United States
    • South Carolina Supreme Court
    • October 2, 1911
    ... ... could be held liable for the damages thereby ... occasioned." ...          The ... same doctrine was stated and applied in Tighe v ... Lowell, 119 Mass. 472, and Hunt v. Salem, 121 ... Mass. 294. These cases were decided, it is true, under a ... statute which gave a right ... ...
  • Irvine v. Greenwood
    • United States
    • South Carolina Supreme Court
    • October 2, 1911
    ...such an accident happened could be held liable for the damages thereby occasioned." The same doctrine was stated and applied in Tighe v. Lowell, 119 Mass. 472, and Hunt v. Salem, 121 Mass. 294. These cases were decided, it is true, under a statute which gave a right of action to "travelers,......
  • Wershba v. City of Lynn
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • June 2, 1949
    ...that one using a highway solely for play and not as an incident to travel is not a traveller. Blodgett v. Boston, 8 Allen, 237. Tighe v. Lowell, 119 Mass. 472 . Harris v. & Maine Railroad, 211 Mass. 573, 575. McKenna v. Andreassi, 292 Mass. 213 , 217. In the light of our decisions we are co......
  • Get Started for Free

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT