115 Me. 134 | Me. | 1916
This is an action on the case brought by the plaintiff to recover damages for injuries to himself and property, by reason of a defective bridge and rail in the defendant town. After the plaintiff had introduced his evidence the court directed the jury to return a verdict for the defendant, and the case comes to this court on exceptions to the ruling of the presiding Justice in directing a verdict for the defendant as aforesaid.
The evidence in the case shows that the plaintiff, a resident of this State, his chauffeur and two small girls, were riding in an-automobile owned by the plaintiff upon a public highway in the defendant town. The automobile itself was registered under the dealer’s license from whom the plaintiff had purchased it a few days prior to the accident. While riding along in the town of Leeds, at about six miles an hour, just as they had entered upon the bridge, the automobile was deflected from its course, the plaintiff claims by reason of striking some plank which had been placed upon the bridge for the purpose of patching it, and the automobile was thrown on to the rail, which was rotten, defective and worthless as a rail, and the automobile and its occupants were plunged into Dead river, twelve feet below, and it is to, recover for the injuries to the plaintiff’s automobile and for the injuries sustained by himself by reason of being plunged into the river that this action was brought. The ruling of the court in directing the verdict for the defendant is sought to be sustained because the automobile of the plaintiff, in which he was riding at the time, was being operated upon a public highway, and had not been registered as required by the laws of this State.
It is the claim of the plaintiff that, although at the time of the injury complained of, he was driving his automobile upon the highways of the State, without registration as provided by law, and thereby doing an illegal act, that act should not defeat his recovery, unless the illegal act charged had some causal connection with and was in some way a concurrent cause of the accident; that there must be some causal connection between the act of the plainiff in driving his auto upon the highway and the injury resulting from
The statutes of this State regulating the use of automobiles upon the highways are contained in chapter 162 of the laws of 1911, and the provisions for registration are found in section 8, and so much as is material in this case reads as follows:
“All motor vehicles shall be registered by the owner or person in control thereof in accordance with the provisions of this act. Application for such registration may be made by mail or otherwise to the secretary of State, upon blanks prepared under his authority. The application shall, in addition to such other particulars as may be required by said’ secretary, contain a statement of the name, place of residence and address of the applicant with a brief description of the motor vehicle, including the name of the maker, the- number, if any, affixed by the maker, the character of the motor power and the amount of such power, stated in figures of horse power, and with such application shall 'deposit an annual registration fee of . . .”
Section 11 provides:
“No motor vehicle of whatever kind shall be operated by a resident of this State of Maine, upon any highway, tramway, public street, avenue, driveway, park or parkway, unless registered as hereto provided.”
Section 16 -imposes a penalty for the violation of the seven preceeding sections.
Section 11 is a prohibition against their being operated upon any highway, tramway, public street, avenue, driveway, park or parkway, unless registered. It is firmly established that the legisltaure has the right to limit and control the use of the highways of the State, whenever necessary to provide for and promote the safety, peace, health, and general welfare of the people. State v. Phillips, 107 Maine, 249; State v. Mayo, 106 Maine, 62; Commonwealth v. Kingsbury, 199 Mass., 542; Dudley v. Northampton Street Ry. Co., 202 Mass., 443.
There is apparently a conflict in the opinions of the courts of the states that have construed the laws relating to the use of motor vehicles upon the highways, but we think there is no real difference
In Lockridge v. Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway Co., 161 Ia. 74, the court said, “it is urged by defendant that the plaintiff was a
The opinion then shows that section 1 requires that all “automobiles . . . shall be registered,” and provides, with much detail, for the registration by the highway commissioners both of the machine with identifying numbers or marks, and the names of the owners. It refers to the various sections of the act, to the fact that the penalty is imposed upon the owners of an unregistered automobile who operates it upon the highway, and says: “Thus far the provisions of the act in question substantially resembles those of the Lord’s Day act formerly in force, which made traveling on that day illegal simply by imposing a penalty upon any
An examination of the decided cases we think clearly shows that when the statute provides for the registration of automobiles and fixes a penalty for their operation upon the highways and streets
Exceptions overruled.