Higley v. Gilmer

3 Mont. 90
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1878
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 3 Mont. 90 (Higley v. Gilmer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Higley v. Gilmer, 3 Mont. 90 (Mo. 1878).

Opinions

Kjstowles, J.

The appellants are common carriers of passengers. The respondent was injured by the upsetting of one of appellant’s coaches upon which he was riding, and this action has been brought to recover damages for such injury. The legal propositions .presented in the case will be considered in the order in which they are introduced by the briefs of counsel.

The judgment in this cause was rendered at an adjourned term of the court for Lewis and Clarke counties. During the interval of adjournment a term of court in the same district in which Lewis and Clarke counties are situated, by the same judge, was held at Diamond City in Meagher county. It is urged that the term of court for Lewis and Clarke counties terminated when the one in Meagher county commenced, and hence, that the judgment in this case was not rendered at a term of court, having been rendered at the adjourned term, and is therefore void. In support of this proposition a number of cases are cited from the decisions of the supreme court of California. These decisions rest upon a statute of that State which provides that a term of court shall in any county continue, if the business is not before finished until the commencement of the next term in some other county in the same distl’iet. These decisions hold that the terms of the statute fix the duration of the terms of the district courts for the several counties of the State. We have no such statute or order fixing the terms of the district courts for this Territory. These decisions therefore are not in point, and we must consider [96]*96this question upon the basis of the general powers of a court to adjourn from time to time. In the case of the Mechanics’ Bank of Alexandria v. Withers, 5 Curtis’ U. S. Sup. Ct. 24, Chief Justice Marshall held, that there being nothing in the act of congress to prevent, a district court of the District of Columbia had the power common to all courts, of adjourning to a distant day, and he held that such court had the power to adjourn from the 16th day of May to the fourth Monday in June. The fact that another term 'of court was held in the same district is the only one that makes this case different from the above. But how should that fact make any material difference % What considerations of public policy or rights of the citizen are incompatible with or are prejudiced by the exercise of this power to adjourn from time to time, even if it is carried so far as to allow an adjournment in one county to be extended beyond the term of court in another county. Bather, would not the objects sought by the establishment of courts in the- Territory be effectuated by such a power % The terms of court held in one county are distinct from those held in another county, even in the same district. When a term of the district court is adjourned in one county it is not an adjournment of that court to another county. When the term is finished and adjourned sine die, that term is ended. When the court convenes in another county it does so for the purpose of holding a distinct term of court there.

No argument has been presented by the learned counsel in this case, and none has occurred to this court that will show any good and substantial reason for holding that under the laws of this Territory, and the orders of this court, the power to adjourn from time to time a court in one county should be limited to the time of the meeting of another term of court in another county in the same district. This assignment of error has no validity.

The complaint does not show that the injury was occasioned without any want of due cai’e on the part of the respondent. Many courts of very high standing and great weight have held that such an allegation as this should be set forth by a plaintiff: in his cause of action. The supreme court of the United States, howeve2', has taken a different position. In the case of The [97]*97Railroad Company v. Gladwin, 15 Wall. 401, Justice Htott says *.

l£ While it is true that in the absence of reasonable care and caution on the part of one seeking to recover for any injury so received will prevent a reeoverys it is not correct to say that it is incumbent upon him to prove such care and caution. The want of such care or contributing negligence, as it is termed, is a defense to be proved on the other side. The plaintiff may establish the negligence of the defendant, his own injury in consequence thereof, and his ease is made out.”

This court is bound by this decision. If the respondent was not required to prove that he exercised due care or caution, or was not guilty of any contributing negligence, he was not required to allege it in his complaint.

I come now to consider the most important and vital point in this case. The appellants, in answer to respondent’s complaint, made the following denial and allegations, which upon motion were stricken out by the court and duly excepted to by appellants, viz. :

“ That the said Higley was received as a passenger on their said coach as in the said complaint is alleged, but say that from the city of Jefferson to the said town of Helena, the said plaintiff was wrongfully thereon and contrary to the request and command of these defendants by their agents, who then and there having been refused, upon his request therefor, the fare of the said Higley on said coach, did not consent or agree to his becoming a passenger of defendants thereon, but forbade him so to continue thereon and did not consent thereto.”

Hpon the trial the appellant offered to prove the above facts, and in addition thereto that the respondent declared in effect his intention to resist an expulsion from the coach with force. The reasons that induced the court below to make the above ruling are presented to us in his written opinion. He held that it made no difference as to whether the respondent had paid his fare when requested or not; as to whether or not he was on the coach with the express consent of the appellants. That if they did not expel him from their coach, and if necessary use sufficient force to [98]*98accomplish this, that in effect respondent was a passenger which appellants undertook to cany, and entitled to the same care as any other passenger on their conveyance.

There has been but pne authority cited that in my opinion fully supports this doctrine. "Whart. on Neg., § 354. As far as my investigations have proceeded I have been unable to find another authority that fully supports this view. That author evidently attempts to support this doctrine, as will be seen by a note to the above paragraph, by the rule that one trespass will not justify another. A .carrier of passengers cannot be said to be guilty of a trespass until he has violated some duty or been guilty of negligence. This is undoubtedly a correct rule but does not meet a case like this. Can it be said that because the appellants did not expel respondent from their coach by force, that therefore they consented to his becoming a passenger thereon ? A person who enters into the coach of a common carrier of passengers without any lawful right, or remains there after he has no lawful right to remain, and has been ordered to leave the same, certainly ought to be considered a trespasser as much as any one would be who enters the house of another unlawfully, or who remains there after he has been ordered by the proprietor to leave.

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Bluebook (online)
3 Mont. 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/higley-v-gilmer-mont-1878.