293 Mass. 375 | Mass. | 1936
The father of the minor plaintiff was a tenant at will in a house owned by the defendant. A granolithic walk extended from the front steps over the defendant’s land to the public sidewalk. It is not questioned that the granolithic walk was a common passageway in the control of the defendant. At the time when the tenancy began there was no difference in grade between the granolithic walk and the public sidewalk.
We need not determine the point upon which the case was decided below. Even if the difference in grade had been due to a positive act of the defendant, no negligence could be found. A step between one level and another does not ordinarily warrant a finding of negligence. Ware v. Evangelical Baptist Benevolent & Missionary Society of Boston, 181 Mass. 285. Pastrick v. S. S. Kresge Co. 288 Mass. 194, 196, 197. Differences in grade are especially to be expected at the division line between a public sidewalk and private property. One has no right to expect that the height of the riser will be uniform. “People cannot expect upon land obviously in private ownership next a street the same condition that they might anticipate in a public sidewalk.” Hoyt v. Woodbury, 200 Mass. 343, 345.
Cases holding that a substantial difference in grade
Order of Appellate Division affirmed.