Boyce v. Wabash Railway Co.

18 N.W. 673, 63 Iowa 70
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMarch 19, 1884
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 18 N.W. 673 (Boyce v. Wabash Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boyce v. Wabash Railway Co., 18 N.W. 673, 63 Iowa 70 (iowa 1884).

Opinion

Seevers, J.

1. practice: exception to-single conclusion of law: sufficiently specific. I. The court found that the defendant killed a mule in the state of Illinois, which was the property of the plaintiff, under such circumstances as will entitle x the plaintiff to recover double its value under a x of that state. As a conclusion of law, the court held that, as the action was based on a statute of Illinois, it had no jurisdiction of the subject-matter, and rendered judgment for the defendant, to which the plaintiff excepted.

Counsel for the appellee insist that such a general exception is insufficient, and should, therefore, be disregarded. In support of-this position, many cases are cited, which in substance hold, where the charge of the court contains several propositions of law, that a general exception to the whole charge is not sufficiently definite and certain. But it has never been held that an exception to a single instruction or legal proposition, if taken at the time, was insufficient. On the contrary, it has been repeatedly held that an exception to each instruction, if taken at the time the charge was given, was not too general.

This is equivalent to holding that, if there is but a single ’ legal proposition stated in the charge, an exception thereto, if taken at the time it was given, would be sufficient, and could not be disregarded. In effect, this is precisely what the appellant did. There was but a single conclusion of law, and to this the plaintiff excepted. ~We think he did all he was required to do.

[72]*722. JURISDICtion : cause of action arising under the laws of another state. [71]*71II. This brings us to a consideration of the merits of the plaintiff’s appeal. The question to be determined we under.[72]*72stand to be whether there can be a recovery under d the statutes of Illinois m the courts of this state, -^-s ^iere a similar statute in this state, it can pr0perly be said that the policy is the same in both states. If a recovery is allowed, the public policy of this state will not be in any manner infringed. This is not an attempt to give extra territorial force to a statute of this state, nor to recover under a statute thereof for the invasion of a right, or the infliction of a wrong, in some other state or country. This case is, therefore, distinguishable from Whitford v. Panama R. R. Co., 23 N. Y., 465, and Hyde v. Wabash R. R. Co., 61 Iowa, 441.

If this cause of action existed at common law, we apprehend a suit could be maintained and a recovery had in this state. In Smith v. Bull, 17 Wend., 323, it was held that an action for assault and battery committed in Pennsylvania could be maintained in New York. It cannot be a subject of dispute that personal actions, whether based on contracts or torts, are, under the common law, transitory. In this and several other states there are statutes providing in substance, where a wrongful act causes death, that a right of action survives to the administrator or next of kin of the deceased.

Under these statutes, it has been.determined, in two recent and well considered cases, that an action may be maintained in one state, although the wrongful act which caused the death was committed in another state. Dennick v. Railroad Company, 103 U. S., 11; Leonard v. Columbia Steam Navigation Co., 84 N. Y., 48.

These cases are based on the thought, tersely expressed by Miller, J., in the case first cited, as follows: ■“ It is difficult to understand how the nature of the remedy, or the jurisdiction of the courts to enforce it, is in any manner dependent on the question whether it is a statutory right or common law right. Whenever, by either the common law or the statute law of a state, a right of action has become fixed and a legal liability incurred, that liability may be enforced, and the right [73]*73of action pursued, in any court which has jurisdiction of such matters, and can obtain jurisdiction of the parties.”

The rule adopted in these cases we deem to be correct, and we are content to follow them, without stating our reasons at length; for we could only repeat what has been so well said in the cases above cited.

The following eases are cited as announcing the contrary doctrine: Woodard v. Michigan R. R. Co., 10 O. St., 121; Richardson v. N. Y. C. R. R. Co., 98 Mass., 85; and McCarthy v. C., R. I. & P. R. R. Co., 18 Kan., 46. We regard it as doubtful whether either of these cases, fairly considered, determines the question whether the action, if brought by the proper person, cannot be maintained.

the same: rule applied. III. It is insisted that the statute in question is in the nature of a police regulation, and, therefore, no recovery can be had in this state, because our courts are not open for the enforcement of such regulations. It is claimed that this was determined in State of Indiana v. Helmer, 21 Iowa, 370. That was an action on a judgment obtained in Indiana in a bastardy proceeding. The question in the case was whether the action could be maintained, and it was held that it could, because the original cause of action had become merged in the judgment, and it was the latter only on which a recovery was asked. But it was in substance said, by way of argument, that the original action could not have been maintained in the courts of this state.

For the purposes of the case at bar this will be conceded; and it may with propriety be said that a bastardy proceeding partakes of the nature of a criminal action. And we apprehend that it is true that the criminal laws of one state cannot be enforced in any other state. But suppose the Indiana statute had given the woman a right of action for damages, and there was a similar statute in this state: — We are not prepared to say that an action could not have been brought by the woman under the Indiana statute in this state, and a re[74]*74covery obtained, unless a different policy had been adopted by this state.

It seems to us to be entirely immaterial what the Illinois statute is called. Just as valuable rights may be conferred under a statute which is enacted under what is known as the police power, as if passed because of the inherent power of the state. After all, statutes of all kinds and on all subjects are enacted under and by virtue of the sovereign power of the state. And, if private rights are thereby conferred, why should we stop and inquire under or by what right the statute was enacted, unless it is unconstitutional. The mere fact that, the statute was passed under what is known as the police, power, is not a sufficient reason in our judgment why a private right conferred thereby should not be enforced in this state to the same extent as any other statute. It will be conceded, for the purposes of this case, that the statute in question was enacted under the police power of the state, and that, if it was notin accord with, but was contrai-y to, the public policy of this state as expressed in the statutes thereof, then it cannot and should not be enforced, even for the protection of a private right, in our courts. But, as it accords with the policy and statutes of this state, we are unable to see why it should not be enforced.

3. APPEAL to supreme court: when not allowed. IV. As to the defendant's appeal. Under the isssues, it became material to determine, First,

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18 N.W. 673, 63 Iowa 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boyce-v-wabash-railway-co-iowa-1884.