20 S.E. 954 | Va. | 1895
delivered the opinion of the court.
The learned judge of the circuit court, whose opinion is filed with the brief of the attorney for the defendant in error, considered that this case was ruled by that of Fry v. County of Albemarle, reported in 86 Va. 195, 9 S. E. 1004, and we are unable to discover any material distinction between the two cases. That was a case in which the plaintiff brought suit for injury to the person by the wrongful and negligent act of the agents and servants of the.county of Albemarle. Here the injury sustained by the plaintiff in error was to his property by the alleged wrongful act of the same defendant. In each case the remedy is by an action for the wrong, and not upon any contract, express or implied. The opinion of the court in the case cited from 86 Va. and 9 S. E., delivered by Lacy, J., in our judgment correctly expounds the law in that case. The authorities are fully considered, and the conclusion arrived at is that ‘ ‘counties, being political divisions of the state, cannot be sued except in cases where by statute such suits are allowed,