72 Md. 82 | Md. | 1890
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This suit was brought to recover the value of two mules which were killed, and a cart which was destroyed, in a collision with an engine belonging to the appellant. The accident happened at a point where a private way or farm crossing intersects the track of the railroad. As the .legal sufficiency of the evidence relied on to establish the alleged negligence of the appellant is brought into question, it becomes necessary to state at somewhat greater length than would otherwise be required, the undisputed facts and circumstances adduced to prove that,negligence.
In the deed by which the right of way was conveyed to the appellant through the land now occupied by the appellee “aright of way ten feet wide * * * * over the railroad * * * is reserved for the use of Charles Pumphrey, his heirs and assigns.” John Hawkins, a witness produced on the part of the appellee, testified that he was employed by the appellee, and on the day' of the accident was hauling manure; that he started with an empty cart from Pumphrey’s house, and was
Assuming these facts to have been proved, do they, in conjunction with the inferences which may legitimately be drawn from them, warrant a jury in convicting the appellant of negligence? A mere scintilla of proof is not sufficient; there must be evidence upon which the jury might reasonably and properly conclude that there was negligence. Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Co. vs. State, use of Savington, 71 Md., 590; State, use of Foy, et al. vs. Phil., Wilm. & Balto. R. R. Co., 47 Md., 87. Now, it has been repeatedly held that no inference of negligence, in cases like this, can be drawn from the fact that an accident did happen. Frech vs. Phil., Wilm. & Balto. R. R., 39 Md., 576; Phil., Wilm. & Balto. R. R. Co. vs. Stebbing, 62 Md., 515. This circumstance must therefore be excluded in considering the question of imputed negligence.
There is no statute of this State which imposes upon the appellant the duty to give signals of the approach of its trains to a private road or farm crossing. Numerous cases in this State and elsewhere have held that a failure on the part of' a railroad company to give proper warnings of the approach of its trains to a public highway or thoroughfare crossing is an act of culpable negligence ; but we are aware of no decision which fixes upon a defendant the like consequence for omitting such warnings as to farm crossings. On the contrary it has been determined twice by this Court that no such obligation exists at all. Phil., Wilm. & Balto. R. R. Co. vs. Fronk, 67 Md., 339; Northern Central Railway Co. vs. State, use of Burns, 54 Md., 113. Nor does the curve in the roadbed impose upon the company the duty of giving signals
The fact that the train was delayed or behind its regular time is no evidence whatever of negligence. “It is well known that railway trains are liable to be detained by various causes, without any fault of the company, and negligence can not be imputed to it from the fact that a train may be behind the usual time. ” State, use of Foy vs. Phil., Wilm. & Balto. R. R. Co., 47 Md., 85. The train consisted of an engine and tender only. It was therefore not a passenger train, and must have been either an extra engine or an engine belonging to a freight train. If it was the latter, there is no evidence that it was not funning on the freight train’s schedule; and if the former, there is no principle of law which precludes a railroad company from sending extra trains or engines over its road whenever the necessities of its business may require. Most assuredly it is not negligence to do so. There is nothing, then, in this circumstance from which negligence can be properly inferred.
It is impossible to see how a railroad company can be held guilty of negligence because, in the construction of its line, it has made curves in the road-bed. There are
The speed of the engine was certainly moderate, and furnishes no indication of negligence.
It is thus quite apparent that no one of these independent facts is legally sufficient to prove negligence, because no one of them tends to establish that conclusion. If then no one of them tends to prove negligence can all of them together have any greater probative force or value? To answer in the affirmative is to assert that the aggregation of a number of incompetent facts is, by force of that mere aggregation, sufficient to establish a result which no one of the same facts taken by itself has even the remotest tendency to prove. This is a fallacy which is so evident that no discussion is needed to expose it.
It is undoubtedly true that a fact to be proved may be proved by establishing various collateral circumstances, more or less remote, but which still lead to the conclusion that it does exist. This is merely another way of saying that the truth of an allegation may be proved by circumstantial evidence. But it is indispensably requisite that every fact so relied on — every link in the chain of such evidence — should tend in some way to establish the fact to be proved, otherwise it will be excluded because irrelevant. Its relation to the conclusion may be slight — but there must be some relation.
We have seen that each of these five independent facts possesses no probative quality as to the issue of negligence now before us; and, unless some special statutory provision places this case upon a different footing, there was no evidence legally sufficient to go to the jury. To meet this the appellee insists that the suit is under section 198 of Article 23 of the Code, which fixes upon railroad companies a liability for injuries to live stock,
- , From what has been said it follows that the first prayer submitted by the appellant withdrawing the case from the jury ought to have heen granted. It was rejected and a verdict was rendered against the company, and judgment was entered thereon and hence this appeal. For the error indicated, without reference to the other questions presented in the record, the judgment must he reversed without awarding a new trial.
Judgment reversed.