74 P. 915 | Or. | 1904
Lead Opinion
after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court.
The trial court, after instructing the jury as to the law relative to contributory negligence, proceeded to say: “But in the case of children the court cannot say this as a matter of law. In such cases it is more or less a mixed question of law and fact”—and further instructed as follows:
“ The evidence shows that plaintiff’s minor was at the time a minor somewhere about fifteen years of age. This fact, hbwmver,does not excuse him from the obligation to exercise care according to his knowledge and capacity to understand danger, as boys of that age ordinarily are, and to use ordinary care to avoid it; and if you find from the evidence in this case that plaintiff’s minor had sufficient capacity to understand the danger of crossing a railroad track in such a situation, it was his duty to use ordinary care in crossing the track, so as to avoid getting in the way of moving cars ; and if he failed to use such care, and because of such failure was injured, he was guilty of contributory negligence, and cannot recover in this action. A child would not be expected to use the same degree of care and prudence that a person of older years and larger discretion would use; but you are to take into consideration the age of the plaintiff’s minor, and his character, and all the circumstances and facts—all the evidence throwing light upon the manner in which any injury may have occurred—and then determine whether he used the care
To these instructions exceptions were taken and reserved, and the sole assignment of error contained in the record is relative thereto. Counsel for appellant insist that the instructions are erroneous (1) because the defendant had no knowledge or notice that the person in charge of the horse and wagon was a minor ; that the occupation in which he was engaged was one for an adult, and not for an infant, and the defendant’s liability could not in any way be made to depend upon the driver’s capacity from considerations of his age ; and (2) because the undisputed evidence conclusively shows that the person injured, although a minor, thoroughly understood the situation, the condition of the business in which he was engaged, the .risks and hazards attending it, and especially of crossing the tracks of a street railway upon which were cars propelled by electricity, and therefore assumed all the hazards of the position, from which it follows that his infancy was wholly immaterial, and unavailable to limit his liability, or to enlarge that of the defendant.
The real question involved is whether the court should say, as a matter of law, under the testimony, that the minor was, to all intents and purposes, an adult, and should have been held to like care, foresight, and responsibility. There are cases, properly decided, too, where the courts have said, as a matter of law, that the minor, considered as yet immature, was guilty of such contributory carelessness and negligence that he ought not to recover. Such is the case of Dietrich v. Baltimore & H. S. Ry. Co. 58 Md. 347, where a minor attempted to board a moving street car by the front platform having one of the steps broken off, when there was a safe way of entry by the rear platform,
But a case of distinct analogy to the one at bar is Wright v. Detroit, G. H. & M. Ry. Co. 77 Mich. 123 (43 N. W. 765). There the plaintiff’s intestate, a boy under fifteen years, while riding on a sleigh driven by another boy of the same age, was struck by defendant’s, train and killed. There was a conflict in the testimony relative to the defendant’s negligence, and that part of the case was, as here, properly submitted to the jury. The trial court, as was. shown by its charge, held the boy who was killed to the same degree of diligence in his efforts to avoid the accident which overtook him as would be required of an adult, and the exception in the supreme court was directed to this holding; but, in deciding the case, the supreme court, speaking through'Mr. Chief Justice Sherwood, says : “The rule is this : ‘That the care and discretion to be used by children, and for which they must be held chargeable, must be proportioned to their age ¿nd capacity; and, while it must be ordinary care, it is not the ordinary care required of an adult under the same circumstances.’ ” And after alluding
Mr. Justice Hunt, in Railroad Co. v. Gladmon, 82 U. S. (15 Wall.) 401, 408, says: “Of an infant of tender years less discretion is required, and the degree depends upon his age and knowledge. Of a child of three years of age less caution would be required than of one of seven, and of a child of seven less than of one of twelve or fifteen. The caution required is according to the maturity and capacity of the child, and this is to be determined in each case by the circumstances of that case.” The rule was subsequently applied by the same eminent jurist in the turntable case of Railroad Co. v. Stout, 84 U. S. (17 Wall.) 657. This court has spoken to the same effect in Cassida v.
4. In the case at bar the instruction incorporating the principle was proper, unless the minor had arrived at man’s estate in judgment, prudence, and forethought; and, in order to declare that it was improper, we should be able to say, as a matter of law, that such was the case. This we are impressed we cannot do. Just at what period in a child’s advancement in years he is to be considered to have arrived at maturity, and to.have assumed all the responsibilities-of a man, as distinguished from a child, is an indeterminate quantity. But if, as in the case of Wright v. Detroit, G. H. & M. Ry. Co. 77 Mich. 123 (43 N. W. 765), the instruction was proper where the child was just under fifteen, and in Haycroft v. Lake Shore & M. S. R. Co. 2 Hun, 489, where the girl was sixteen, and in Daniels v. Clegg, 28 Mich. 32, where she was twenty, there can be no reason for believing that it was improper in this case. It could not be so, as the comparative ages will not warrant it. Whether a boy of the capacity of the plaintiff’s minor was able to apprehend the danger involved, and had sufficient sagacity to avoid it successfully, and yet, notwithstanding his minority, he was negligent, is a question that would properly arise upon a motion for nonsuit; ''but it could not be insisted on in this case, as the bill of exceptions shows there was a conflict in the testimony relative to whether he was negligent in that respect or not. The judgment of the trial court will be affirmed, and it is so ordered. Affirmed.
Rehearing
On Motion for Rehearing.
delivered the opinion.
It was not onr purpose by the main opinion handed down herein, as it seems to be suggested by the petition for rehearing, to hold to the doctrine “ that, where the interests and actions of an infant are involved, atrial judge can in no case declare as a matter of law that there has been contributory negligence.” We said, it will be observed, “there are cases, properly decided, too, where the courts have said as a matter of law that the minor, considered as yet immature, was guilty of such contributory carelessness and negligence that he ought not to recover,” and in support thereof we cited several authorities. In line with this view are some of the cases cited by counsel in their petition for rehearing. Notably is the case of Rudd’s Adm’r v. R. & D. R. Co. 80 Va. 546, where a boy of twelve, sent by his parents to mind the cows in a held along a railway, went to sleep on the track, and was run over and killed by a freight train, and it was held that, notwithstanding his immature years, he was guilty of such contributory negligence that his administrator could not recover. Another is Masser v. Chicago R. I. & P. R. Co. 68 Iowa, 602 (27 N. W. 776), where a boy between eleven and twelve years was killed while crossing the tracks of a railroad. The court said in that case : “A boy eleven years of age knows as well as an adult does what a railroad is, and the use to which it is put, and the consequence to a person who should be struck by a passing train, and knows that he should not stop to play or lounge amid a network of tracks. It is true that a boy of that age cannot be presumed to have the judgment of an adult; but it does not require much judgment to keep from walking in a dangerous place, the dangers of which are fully understood. If the question was as to whether the deceased was guilty
We cannot say, of course, whether, had the question been before us, the result would or would not have" been different, in view of the authorities cited both here and in the main opinion. The single question presented, however, was whether the court erred in instructing that the
Mr. Justice Parker thus reasons in the Tucker Case: “ The Penal Code provides that, when an infant is charged with crime, upon the prosecution rests the burden of showing that the defendant has sufficient intelligence and maturity of judgment to render him capable of harboring a criminal intent until the age of twelve years, at which time the presumption of incapacity ceases. Now, while this statute does not undertake to prescribe, and does not necessarily affect, the rule to be applied in civil actions, it suggests, as asserted in the Nagle Case, an age to which the courts can with safety limit the presumption of incapacity on the part of an infant to appreciate the perils incident to crossing railroad tracks. This presumption may, in a proper case, be so far overborne by evidence as to present a question for the jury, and then the age of the injured party may doubtless be considered by the jury in connection with the facts indicating a lack of comprehension of a dangerous situation. But, in the absence of evidence ■tending to show that an injured infant twelve years old was not qualified to understand the danger and appreciate the necessity for observing that degree of caution in crossing a railroad track which an adult would, he must be deemed sui juris.” If we mistake not the reasoning of
The rule seems to be the legitimate result and eventual outgrowth of the rule obtaining in New York, that plaintiff has the burden of showing that he was not guilty of contributory negligence before he can recover. This is apparent from the case of Stone v. Drydock, E. B. & B. Ry. Co. 115 N. Y. 104, 110 (21 N. E. 712), where the court say: “We are inclined to the opinion that in an action for an injury to 'a child of tender years, based on negligence, who may or may not have been sui juris when the injury happened, and the fact is material as bearing upon the question of contributory negligence, the burden is upon the plaintiff to give some evidence that the party injured was not capable, as matter of fact, of exercising judgment and discretion. This rule would seem to be consistent with the principle now well settled in this State, that in an action for a personal injury, based on negligence, freedom from contributory negligence on the part of the party injured is an element of the cause of action.”
Now, it may be true that a lad of twelve or fourteen has sufficient capacity and understanding to be sensible of danger, and to have the discretion and foresight to avoid
Rehearing Denied.