128 Ga. 293 | Ga. | 1907
As was said by the present Chief Justice, in Mayor of Milledgeville v. Wood, 114 Ga. 372, “experts on questions relating to a particular art or science, or which come under the observation and experience of persons engaged in a particular profession, trade, or occupation, who, from their superior facilities and experience, are better qualified than ordinary jurors to form correct conclusions thereon, are permitted to give their opinions to the jury, based upon given facts which they have testified to themselves, have heard others testify to in the case, or which have been hypothetically stated to them.” Railroad construction, where not only the safety of the public, but also the convenience and economy of the operation of cars, and the transportation of freight and passengers are to be considered, requires the attention of men specially prepared both by study and experience. It is not to be expected that a judge or juror will be able to say that the change of curvature in a givgn instance would have the effect to endanger the public or to increase the operating expenses of the railroad company. The feasibility of the proposed change, as illustrated by the drawings to which various witnesses referred, was peculiarly the subject-matter of opinion evidence. Perhaps some of the conclusions stated by the witnesses may not properly have come within the strict letter of the rule as to the admissibility of opinion evidence, but as the main question for solution before the chancellor was as to whether the municipal action was unreasonable and arbitrary because the proposed change was not necessary for the convenience and welfare of the public, and could not be accomplished except by serious, impairment of the railroad company’s rights in Tenth avenue, and its solution being largely dependent upon the effect of the shifting of the tracks on the plaintiff’s railroad as required by the mu
• The court allowed the affidavits of several engineers, based upon maps shown by other testimony to be correct, to the effect that the proposed change in the location of plaintiff’s tracks in Tenth street was feasible, and would result in no impairment of the plaintiff’s right to use the street. These affidavits were objected to on the ground that as the witnesses had no personal knowledge of the actual situation, their testimony, based upon the engineer’s drawings proved to be correct, was incompetent. We think this objection was without merit. The civil engineers were experts in the business of railroad construction. They were competent to give' their opinion hypothetically without actual knowledge of the situation.
"We have carefully examined the evidence, and think it was sufficient to authorize the conclusion that the ordinance which required the plaintiff to shift the location of its tracks in Tenth street by moving the same a few feet southward along the street was neither unreasonable nor arbitrary, but was a proper exercise of the police power of the city in the control of its streets.
Judgment affirmed.