43 So. 305 | Miss. | 1907
delivered the opinion of the court.
The court below erred in refusing to give instruction No. 5
It also erred in granting to the defendant the following instruction:. “The court charges the jury that, if they believe from the evidence that plaintiff’s plans and specifications had no market value, and that he had put his services and other expenses into their preparation without reference to any particular job, and upon the mere chance or possibility that he might have need or use for them in soliciting work in the future, but that there has been no demand for said plans and specifications, and plaintiff had no particular use for them at the time of their loss, and was for some time after their loss not engaged in business for himself, but employed as a draughtsman by others at a salary, and there was no use or demand for them in that capacity, plaintiff can only recover nominal damages for the loss of said plans.”
The true principal was definitely settled in the case of L. & N. Ry. Co. v. Stewart, 78 Miss., 600, 29 South., 394. See also, Green v. Railroad Co., 128 Mass., 221, 35 Am. Rep., 370; Mather v. Am. Express Co., 138 Mass., 55, 52 Am. Rep., 258; Southern Express Company v. Owen, 41 South., 752, from the supreme court of Alabama, where the court said: “Ordinarily, where property has a market value that can be shown, such value is the criterion by which actual damages for its destruc
Reversed and remanded.