U. P. R. W. Co. v. Rollins

5 Kan. 167
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedAugust 15, 1869
StatusPublished
Cited by52 cases

This text of 5 Kan. 167 (U. P. R. W. Co. v. Rollins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
U. P. R. W. Co. v. Rollins, 5 Kan. 167 (kan 1869).

Opinion

By the Court,

Valentine, J.

In tbis case tbe defendants in error, who were plaintiffs in tbe court below, sued tbe plaintiffs in error, for tbe value of five bead of cattle.

It appears from tbe record in tbe case tbat tbe plaintiffs below allowed tbeir cattle to run at large on tbe open uninclosed prairie, near tbe railroad track of tbe defendants. Tbe cattle roamed on tbe railroad track, and while there were killed by a train of cars of tbe defendants running over them. Tbe land over which tbe track run belonged, as is admitted by tbe parties, to tbe defendants, in fee simple. It was not fenced at tbat place, and neither was tbe land adjoining it fenced. Tbe plaintiffs lived near tbe railroad, knew its condition and tbat trains were running daily upon it. There was no evidence or claim tbat tbe plaintiffs owned, or were in possession of tbe land immediately adjoining tbat of tbe defendants.

[173]*173There are a great many assignments of error in this case, but we think the whole of them, taken together, raise simply these general questions : "What are the rights of the parties respectively on the premises where the accident occurred, and what degree of care and diligence should each have exercised there so as to avoid injuries to the property of themselves and the other parties ? And is the question of negligence one of fact for the jury, or of law for the court ?

Diligence of owners. We regard the maxim sic viere tvo ut alienwm 0 non as one tested by the wisdom and ex- ' perience of ages, and founded in the eternal and immutable principles of equity and justice.

Every person must so use his own property as not to injure the rights of others. And under a humane and benign system of jurisprudence such as ours no one can be allowed to invade or infringe the rights of others with impunity! But .this maxim, benign as it is, does not exempt or absolve any one, from being vigilant and watchful in the protection of his own rights.

The above doctrine in its practical application would probably be better expressed in these words: Every person, in his intercourse with others, is required to exercise that degree of care and diligence to protect his own rights and to avoid injury to the rights of others, which an ordinarily careful and prudent man usually exercises in his own affairs.

The rule thus expressed is of almost universal application. Whenever one person exercises ordinary care and diligence on his part, and does not infringe the rights of others, he has a right to claim the same rigid observance of the rule from them as he observes. It is only when he has violated the rule himself — when he has been [174]*174negligent of Ms duty to Mmself, or when he is a wrongdoer towards others, that there is any relaxation of the rule towards him.

It therefore becomes necessary for us to inquire into the relative rights of the parties in this case on the premises where the accident occurred. "Who committed the first wrong ? "Who was guilty of negligence ?

Of Owner of Fee. It seems to us that every person who owns real estate, in fee simple, is the exclusive owner, and is entitled to the exclusive possession thereof; that no other person except the owner can have any rights there; and that if any other person disturbs the possession of the owner by entering upon the land himself, or by allowing his cattle to do so, he is a trespasser.

This case seems to have been tried by the plaintiffs in the court below upon the theory that, as to all uninclosed lands, the owner thereof is a mere tenant in common with every other person; — that a railroad company, for instance, are bound to run their trains with the same care and prudence as to roaming cattle as though the owners of the cattle were joint owners with them of the railroad. And the court below seems partially at least to have sustained this theory of the plaintiffs. ^ The court charged the jury that cattle running at large upon the uninclosed land of another are not trespassers; that the owners of cattle have by law a right to so allow thém to run at large for the purpose of subsisting and grazing. These istructions are erroneous. They all tended to mislead the jury. It is probably true that the plaintiffs, by allowing their cattle to run at large, committed no actionable trespass, no actionable wrong. But these instructions went further than that; — they tended to convey the idea to the jury that the plaintiffs committed [175]*175no trespass or wrong of any kind; that the plaintiffs below were simply exercising a right, given to them by law, to pasture their cattle on the lands of others.

Common Law Doowne. The common law of England is in force in this state, by statutory enactment, so far as it is not repugnant to or inconsistent with the constitution and statutes of this state and of the United States. \_Comp. L., 678.] At common law the owner of the land is the owner of the ground and of everything attached to it for an indefinite extent upwards and downwards. He has the exclusive right to possess and enjoy it, unmolested, and undisturbed. He is not obliged to fence against the cattle of other persons. The owner of the cattle 'is bound to keep them upon his own premises, and if they stray upon the land of his neighbor, whether the land is fenced or not, he is liable for any damage they commit while there. And he cannot in general recover for any injury they may receive while thus unlawfully there, unless the injuries are willfully or wantonly inflicted.

The plaintiffs, however, claim that the common law in this- respect has been abolished by the custom of the country and by statute.

Custom. As the common law has been adopted by statute and made the paramount rule by express enactment of the legislature, “ any custom or usage to the contrary notwithstanding,” \_Comp. L., 678,] we suppose it would take more than a custom of the country to repeal it.

Prescription. Neither does this custom amount to a prescription. It lacks nearly all of the essential elements of a prescription. It has not been of sufficient [176]*176duration. The possession of the plaintiffs has not been •long continued, peaceable, or without lawful interruption. Neither does a prescriptive right belong to the public in general but it belongs to an individual in particular.

Statutes. Secondly, Has the common law been repealed __ by statute? We have searched in vain for any such statute. We have been referred to certain fence laws, stray laws, and laws regulating the running at large, of stock, [Comp. L., 599, 600, 842, 843, 845, et seq; Laws of 1864, 64; Laws of 1865, 91; Laws of 1866, 248;] but none of these statutes repeals the common law in this respect. There is no statute that gives, or attempts to give, to any person, any rights upon another’s land, whether it is fenced or not. A statute of that kind would tend to disturb vested rights, and be unconstitutional and void.

As the plaintiffs claim that the owners of cattle have a right to allow their cattle to run at large for the purpose of grazing and subsisting on other people’s lands, we have examined the statutes to see what right the legislature have attempted to confer upon one man to take the grass of another, and find that every legislative act with reference to the subject is for the protection of the owner of the grass. One act, [Comp. L., 295, § 53;

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Bluebook (online)
5 Kan. 167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/u-p-r-w-co-v-rollins-kan-1869.