84 Md. 163 | Md. | 1896
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an appeal by the plaintiff below from the rulings of Dobler, J., sitting in the Superior Court of Baltimore City, without the intervention of a jury, in a suit brought by the appellant, plaintiff below, against the appellee, for the recovery of damages for the death of the husband of the equitable plaintiff, caused by the alleged negligence of the appellee. The appellee runs and operates an electric railway, for the transportation of passengers only, from the
There is no difficulty about the law applicable to the facts just set forth. There being direct evidence of the cause of the injury there is no room for the invoking of a presumption in regard to it, because the proof of the fact rebuts the presumption. Andrews’ case, 39 Md. 329; P. W. & B. R. R. Co. v. Stebbing, 62 Md. 518. The responsibility of the appellee for the safe carriage of passengers is founded upon contract. The law casts on it the obligation of providing safe means of transportation and the employment of skillful agents, and while it is responsible for the consequences of any failure or omission in this respect, as well as for the negligence of its agents, there is also imposed on the passenger the duty to obey the reasonable regulations of the company in entering, occupying and leaving its cars ; and nothing less than some existing necessity, beyond his control, can justify a passenger in a breach of his contract and render the company liable for injuries received in consequence of a known violation of such regulations. The Penna. R. R. Co. v. Zebe, 33 Pa. St. 318. And this Court has uniformly held that, in such case, the question of negligence on the part of the passenger is a legal question for the Court to decide. Wilkinson’s case, 30 Md. 233; Andrews’ case, 39 Md. 329; Cason’s case, 72 Md. 377. In this case the undisputed evidence shows that Sharkey had frequently ridden on this car; that the warning against jumping off the car whilst in motion was conspicuously posted, and that by the exercise of reasonable care he could have known what was necessary for his own safety. The accident was the direct result of his infraction of the rules of the company, made for the safety and protection of those who travelled in
The case of the B. & P. R. R. Co. v. Swann, 81 Md. 400, has been earnestly pressed upon us to sustain the appellant’s contention as to negligence on the part of the appellee in the location of the poles, and in the arrangement and management of the car. In that case, the female plaintiff had purchased a ticket and had acquired a right to be conveyed in one of the carrier’s passenger coaches. The carrier substituted a baggage car, and in the course of the journey the plaintiff was injured ; and this Court held that negligence could not be imputed to the passenger because she took passage in the baggage car, when no other means was offered, and that the questions whether the carrier had made diligent effort to procure a passenger car, and whether the baggage car was a safe vehicle were proper questions to be submitted to the jury. In this case no such questions arise. The appellee had furnished a passenger coach, which, so far as the record discloses, was a safe vehicle for the transportation of passengers, and in doing so fulfilled its obligation to carry the passenger safely, “ so far as it could be done by the exercise of the highest degree of care and skill which was consistent with the undertaking.”
. Nor is there anything in this case tending to impute any negligence to the appellee in the structure and care of its track, or in any of the subsidiary arrangements necessary to the safety of the passenger. The-appellee’s cars being propelled by electricity, it was necessary that the trolley wires,
For these reasons we are of opinion that there was no error in the ruling of the Court below, and the judgment will, therefore, be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.