66 Vt. 129 | Vt. | 1894
Action on the case to recover for injuries alleged to have been received by the plaintiff near the entrance to the town hall in the defendant town. The plaintiff’s evidence tended to show that he slipped and fell and was injured upon the sidewalk, within the limits of the village of Barre, at a point two to four feet from the steps of the town hall or opera house, in consequence of the slippery condition of the sidewalk.
To entitle the plaintiff to recover, under the law of negligence, it must appear that the defendant owed him a duty in respect to the safe condition of the street at that point and failed to perform that duty.
By sections 5 and 6, Act No. 190, Laws of 1886, the village of Barre assumed all duties and responsibilities in respect to the streets of the village, and the town was relieved therefrom. If there was negligence in respect to the care of the sidewalk it was on the part of the village. But there was no statutory liability upon either corporation, they being liable by the statute only for damages arising from the insufficiency of bridges, culverts and sluices.
The plaintiff contends that as the defendant owned the opera house and rented it on this occasion for other than public purposes, namely, to an opera company, and received rent for its use, it owed a common law duty to the plaintiff and others who were invited to the opera house to have the approaches to it reasonably safe.
It is a general rule that towns and other quasi corporations are not liable for any neglect of corporate duty unless an action is given therefor by statute. This is for the reason that they are governmental in their character, political subdivisions, formed for the purpose of aiding in carrying on the government of the country. Dill. Mun. Cor., s. 963; Mower v. Inhabitants of Leicester, 9 Mass. 247; State v. Burlington, 36 Vt. 521. A city or town is not liable to a private citizen for an injury caused by any defect or want of
Applying the rule for which the.plaintiff contends, that the defendant town stood in the case like a private individual ; that having rented the opera house on this occasion for the purpose shown by the evidence, it was legally bound to provide a reasonably safe approach to the building for persons going tó and from it, what was the measure of its liability ?
If a private person had been the owner of the opera house he would have been under a legal obligation to all persons visiting it on this occasion to have had the building and its entrances and approaches, which were under his control, reasonably safe for their proper use. If there had been a space between the sidewalk and the building, owned and
Wherever there is a clear space between the street and any private building to which the public are invited, owned by the owners of the building and used as an approach to it, such owners are responsible for its reasonably safe condition. If, on the other hand, the space is a part of the public street which it is the duty of the village, town or city to maintain, the owners of the building are not liable for defects in the approach unless there is an ordinance which imposes upon them a duty to keep the approach in repair. In the absence of a duty there is no liability.
The defendant has made no point as to the length of time the slippery condition of the sidewalk had existed and we have not considered it.
Judgment affirmed.