Blyston-Spencer v. United Railways Co.

132 S.W. 1175, 152 Mo. App. 118, 1910 Mo. App. LEXIS 972
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 5, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 132 S.W. 1175 (Blyston-Spencer v. United Railways Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blyston-Spencer v. United Railways Co., 132 S.W. 1175, 152 Mo. App. 118, 1910 Mo. App. LEXIS 972 (Mo. Ct. App. 1910).

Opinion

NIXON, P. J.

I. Appellant at the outset assigns as error the action of the trial court in overruling appellant’s .challenges of jurors Marshall, Metzner, Orr, Penseneau and Hennessy, on the ground that each, of said jurors had served on a jury within twelve [126]*126months next preceding the trial of this case. The evidence showed that each of these jurors had been summoned to come* to court and serve for one week, beginning on Monday of the week in which this case was tried, and that they had sat upon juries during the week subsequent to the Monday when they began to serve, but that they had not sat upon any jury within a year prior to the time their service as jurors began; that is, on Monday of the week in which this case was tried.

Section 7353, Revised Statutes 1909', concerning juries in cities of 100,000 inhabitants or more in this state, provides that each of the courts therein referred to “may direct from time to time the number of jurors, to be summoned for said court, and how long they shall be summoned before their appearance shall be required, and how long they shall serve. ’ ’ The panel of jurors which tried the present 'case had been required by the court, under the authority granted by this section, to appear on the preceding Monday and serve for a period of one week. Section 7361, Revised Statutes 1909, provides that a juror is to serve only once a year, and that no'person should be required to serve as a juror, either grand, petit or special, more than once a year. But it has been held that this section confers a special privilege on the juror, and does not forbid his being summoned. It is ground for challenge for cause, but is waived if the juror is not challenged peremptorily. [Williamson v. St. Louis T. Co., 202 Mo. 345, 100 S. W. 1072.] Section 7342, Revised Statutes 1909 (in the same chapter), provides what persons shall be exempt from jury service^ in such cities, and contains the following provision: “. And it shall be the duty of every court of record in said city to excuse from service as a juror every person who, being examined on the voir dire, shall appear to the court to be a person whose name ought not to have been placed upon the jury list under the pro[127]*127visions of this article, or who has served on any jury in any conrt in this state within twelve months next preceding, if challenged for that cause, by either party of the suit; and the court may excuse such person without challenge by either party.”

It will he seen that section 7353, which authorizes the court in which the jury is to serve to determine how long the jurors shall he in attendance or how long they shall serve, is apparently in conflict with section 7342 which provides that it shall be the duty of every court of record in said city to excuse from service as a juror any person who has served on any jury in any court in this state within twelve months next preceding. The respondent contends that the service referred to in section 7342 as “next preceding” means that where a juror is summoned on a regular panel within twelve months prior to the date on which his service on said regular panel is to commence, he may be challenged for cause. The appellant contends that the service referred to as “next preceding” means within twelve months prior to the date on which the juror is actually called into the jury box to serve as a juror. The law of interpretation of statutes is well established that all provisions of law relating to one subject should be considered in determining the meaning of any particular portion thereof, and such a construction should he given to the portion under consideration as will keep all the provisions of law on the same subject in harmony, and give effect to all, when such construction is possible. [Macke v. Byrd, 131 Mo. 682, 33 S. W. 448; City of Westport ex rel. v. Jackson, 69 Mo. App. 148; Litson v. Smith, 68 Mo. App. 397.] Where the provisions of law are seemingly contradictory of each other, or the literal construction of a single section would conflict with any other following or preceding it and with the entire scope of manifest intent of the act, it is the duty of courts, if it he possible, to harmonize the various provisions with each other, and to effect this,' [128]*128it may be necessary to depart from tbe literal construction of one or more sections. [State to the use of Rosenblatt v. Heman, 70 Mo. 441.]

Applying these general principles to the sections of the statutes under consideration — which are in pari materia• — in ■ order to collect the legislative intent, we think there can be no reasonable doubt as to their proper construction, and that the appellant’s contention should not be sustained. The evident meaning of the several enactments, considered together, is that in case a juror is called upon the regular panel to perform jury service for a specified length of time (in this case, one week), the law would only exempt him from such service provided he had served as a juror within twelve months prior to the time when he begem service as a juror on such regular panel. Otherwise, the sections of the law, when all considered together, are conflicting and irreconcilable. The manifest purpose of the enactments was not to burden the juror with unnecessary service, but to distribute such burdens generally among all citizens qualified for jury service.

II. The court, at plaintiff’s request and over defendant’s objection, gave the following instruction as to the negligence of the defendant in running its car at a rate of speed in excess of fifteen miles an hour:

“2. . . . and if the jury believe and find from the evidence that the place at which plaintiff was injured was in that portion of the city described as not being the central district in the city ordinance read in evidence; that just before and at the time said car ran against said plaintiff and injured her, the said car was running at a rate of speed in excess of fifteen miles an hour; and if the jury further find from the evidence that such excessive rate of speed of said car directly caused tbe injuries to the plaintiff; and if the jury further find and believe from the evidence that before going upon said track and whilst passing over, [129]*129upon and near said track, the plaintiff used ordinary-care in looking and listening for the approaching car and to avoid injury to herself, then the plaintiff is entitled to recover and your verdict should be for the plaintiff. ’ ’

Of its own motion the court gave the following instruction :

“The jury are instructed that it was the duty of the plaintiff before crossing the defendant’s electric railway track, to exercise ordinary care to look and listen for approaching cars and to exercise ordinary care to avoid coming into collision with such cars, and if you find from the evidence in this case that plaintiff failed to so look and listen before stepping on the defendant’s track, and that by so doing she might have observed the approaching car, and by the: exercise of ordinary care avoided the collision, then your verdict must be for the defendant even though you believe defendant was guilty of negligence, unless you further find that the motorman could have stopped the car in time to have avoided the collision by the use of the means at his command and consistent with safety to the car and to the passengers in the car, after discovering the danger to plaintiff, or could have discovered such danger by keeping a vigilant watch.”

Appellant assigns as error that these two instructions rest upon inconsistent theories.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 S.W. 1175, 152 Mo. App. 118, 1910 Mo. App. LEXIS 972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blyston-spencer-v-united-railways-co-moctapp-1910.