Indianapolis & Madison Railroad v. Solomon

23 Ind. 534
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1864
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 23 Ind. 534 (Indianapolis & Madison Railroad v. Solomon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Indianapolis & Madison Railroad v. Solomon, 23 Ind. 534 (Ind. 1864).

Opinion

Erazer, J.

This was a suit to recover for animals killed by cars running upon the railroad of the appellant, the same not being securely fenced. The principal question arises upon the evidence, from which it appears that the injury was done by a train of another corporation, running-in its own name and behalf, an(l controlled by it, over a part of the appellant’s road, in pursuance of a contract for that purpose between the two corporations.

It is contended that the act (Sess. Laws, 1863, .p. 24) only makes the corporation liable for such injuries occasioned by the trains of a lessee, when such lessee uses the road in the corporate name of the company which owns the road. As the law stood before the passage of that act, the company owning the road could he sued. The mischief was that the roads of many insolvent -corporations were in the hands of receivers, assignees, lessees, or others, who were operating the same in the corporate name, and killing stock; and in such cases a judgment against the corporation could never be collected. To remedy this mischief, the first section of the act of 1863 makes the party so operating the road in the corporate name, jointly and severally liable with the company which owns the road. The second section is hut a useless re-enactment of the old law, as to the liability of the company for such injuries, in [535]*535all cases where they are caused by trains used on the road. It employs almost the exact language of the act of 1859, and such changes as are made in phraseology do not improve it. 1 G. 4 E 522. Indeed, if the appellant is correct in the construction to be placed upon the second section, it would inevitably follow that the act of 1859 is still in force; for then the two acts would not be inconsistent with each other, and the latter would not repeal the former. It is needless, therefore, for us to construe the section.

The court, over the defendant’s objection, admitted evidence that the plaintiff was ignorant of the terms of the contract between the two railroad companies. This is assigned for error. We incline to the opinion that the evidence was immaterial, but surely it could not, in this instance, prejudice the rights of the defendant, and it would be therefore improper to reverse the case on that ground.

Demurrers were overruled to several paragraphs of the ■complaint. They do not allege that the animals were killed in Marion county. The demurrers make no objection to the jui’isdietion of the court. Can this objection; then, be taken for the first time in this coui't, and made available? Surely not. The parties submitted to the jurisdiction, the subject of the action was within the jurisdiction, and the statute expressly provides that the objection shall be deemed waived, (2 H. & G. 81, sec. 54,) and besides, the fact was proved, as appears from the bill of exceptions. Language is used, in the opinion of this court, in The Indianapolis, etc. Railroad Company v. Renner, 17 Ind. 135, which conveys an erroneous view of the law, and we think, upon cax’eful consideration, that that case, and The Indianapolis, etc. Railroad Company v. Wisley, 20 Ind. 229, do not announce a principle applicable to courts of general jurisdiction. The statute makes the action local, and requires suit to be brought in the county where the injury was committed. But the want of jurisdiction because the action is local, and has been brought in the [536]*536wrong county, and the want of jurisdiction because the court has no power and authority to adjudicate upon the subject involved in the action, are two very different things. In the latter case it was always and necessarily the rule of law that the consent of parties could not confer jurisdiction, for the reason that in any event the court was not by law deemed competent to he intrusted with the question, and therefore its proceedings would be coram non judicé, and utterly void, and the parties could not by agreement give faculties to the court which the law had withheld. But where the court was bylaw competent to entertain the question involved, and was only deprived of jurisdiction because the action was local, and required to be brought in another county, it was always held that the objection could be waived. Tidd, 9th ed., 606;, Co. Lit. 125&, 126a, note 1. Our code (sec. 54) providing that the objection to the jurisdiction shall he deemed waived, unless taken by demurrer or answer, except where the court has no jurisdiction over the subject, was adopted in view of the common law, and changes the rule previously existing, which required the waiver of objection to the jurisdiction,, on account of the venue, to appear of record affirmatively. 1 Chit. PL 268.

Thomas A. Kendricks and Oscar B. Kord, for appellant. John T. Bye and A. 0. Karris, for appellee.

The counsel for the appellant argued: First. A railroad company is not responsible for the negligence of another railroad company, its lessee. Schuler v. The Hudson River Railroad Co., 38 Barb. 653 ; Fletcher v. Boston and Maine Railroad Co., 1 Allen, 9; Murch v. Concord Railroad Co., 9 Foster, 9; Winterbottom v. Wright, 10 Meeson & Welsby, 109; Weyant v. New York, etc. Railroad Co., 3 Duer, 360; McKinney v. The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Co., 22 Ind. 99.

The same is the rule as to the assignor of a ferry license. Felton v. Deall, 22 Verm. 170; Biggs v. Ferrell, 12 Ired. 1; Ladd v. Chotard, 1 Ala. 366; Blackwell v. Wisewell, 24 Barb. 355.

A city is not responsible for the acts of negligence of a contractor or his employees, where the contractor is exercising a distinct employment, to do work by a special contract, for a stipulated sum, and does not interfere with [537]*537tlie mode of performance. Pack v. The Mayor, etc. of New York, 4 Selden, 222; Blake v. Ferris, 1 Selden, 48; Kelly v. The Mayor, etc. of New York, 1 Kernan, 422; Clark v. Fry, 8 Ohio St. Rep. 538; Painter v. The City of Pittsburg, 12 Am. L. Reg. 350.

[536]*536Judgment affirmed, with three per cent, damages and costs.

[537]*537Second. The statute only renders the lessor liable for stock killed or injured by the lessee, where the lessee is running or controlling the road in the corporate name of the lessor.

The law giving compensation for stock killed or injured by railroads, “without regard to the question whether such-killing or injury was the result of willful misconduct or negligence, or the result of unavoidable accident,” is not intended for the protection of adjoining proprietors or owners of stock, but is sustained upon the ground that it is a police regulation, designed for the protection of persons and property passing upon the road. The Indianapolis, etc. Railroad Co. v. Townsend, 10 Ind. 38; The Indianapolis, etc. Co. v. Snelling, 16 Ind. 435; The New Albany, etc. Company v. Tilton, 12 Ind. 3; The New Albany, etc. Co. v. Maiden, Id. 11; The Toledo, etc. Railroad Co. v. Fowler, 22 Ind. 316; The Indianapolis, etc. Co. v. Kercheval, 16 Ind. 84.

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Bluebook (online)
23 Ind. 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indianapolis-madison-railroad-v-solomon-ind-1864.