47 Kan. 469 | Kan. | 1891
The opinion of the court was delivered by
“It is not the loss of the decedent, but the loss of the survivors, which is to be estimated. That involves not merely the probable accumulations of the deceased, but the probability of the benefit of such accumulations inuring to the survivors. Where one who was the head of a family with minor children is killed, there is a reasonable certainty that his earnings if he had survived would inure directly to the benefit of the widow and children. ■ When one dies without wife or child, with no one legally dependent upon him, and with only remote relatives as his next of kin, there is only a remote probability that his earnings, whatever they may be, would inure to such next of kin. . . . Where the deceased, leaving no wife nor child, leaves as his next of kin father or mother, and such father or mother is in good pecuniary condition, it is fair to say that his life would if survived have been of comparatively little value to them. In other words, his earnings would be used for his own pleasure or profit, and not go to the increase of their present good financial condition.”
Whether the parents of the deceased are wealthy or dependent, or whether they were in the habit of conferring upon or receiving benefits from the deceased, does not appear. For all that is shown, they may be in good financial condition, without any necessity of help from their son, or any likeli
Judgment accordingly.