38 A. 19 | N.H. | 1893
"In its own courts a state cannot be made an involuntary defendant. It is not constitutionally bound to give to its school-teachers, to those who support its paupers, lend it money, sell it real or personal property, or make and repair its roads and buildings, to travellers injured by defects in its highways, or to any class of contractors, creditors, or claimants, a right of action, civil or criminal, against itself." Wooster v. Plymouth,
But aside from this fatal objection, the plaintiff alleges no duty on the part of the defendants towards him which was unfulfilled. The injuries of which he complains arose from the misfeasance and neglect of duty of independent public officers in the performance of their statutory duty as selectmen to "provide a suitable lock-up for the temporary detention of offenders" (P. S., c. 264, s. 23); and the uniformly recognized doctrine is, that the acts of such officers are their own official acts, and not the acts of the municipal corporation or its agents. Edgerly v. Concord,
Exception overruled.
CARPENTER, J., did not sit: the others concurred.