Weekly notes of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the county courts of Philadelphia, and the United States district ... eastern district of Pennsylvania Volume 44 - Softcover
Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1899 Excerpt: ...no fact or facts either admitted or established by undisputed evidence, that would justify a trial Judge in declaring, as matter of law, that he was guilty of contributory negligence, and therefore could not recover. Without unnecessarily consuming time, by reviewing or summarizing the evidence and presenting it here, the foregoing are the conclusions we have reached after a careful consideration of the record. This case was clearly for the jury, and it should have been submitted to them with proper instructions as to the law applicable to the facts which the evidence tended to prove. As to the law of the case, there cannot be any trouble. A person who uses a street or highway that is thrown open for public travel, knowing at the time that there is a safer route which he may take to reach his destination, is not necessarily guilty of negligence because he does not take the safer route. It is only when the danger is so great and apparent that an ordinarily prudent person would regard it as dangerous and therefore avoid it, that a trial Court can say. as matter of law. that the person using the more dangerous route is guilty of contributory negligence: Stokes v. Ralpho Township, 187 Pa. 333. If the alternative route has dangers of its own, as was the fact in this case, and the dangers of the route actually taken are not so great and obvious as to deter the general public and ordinarily prudent and careful people from using it, the question of the contributory negligence of a person injured in using it, is a question for the jury. The rule laid down in Haven v. Bridge Company, 151 Pa. 620, and recognized in other cases, that "where a person having a choice of two ways, one of which is perfectly safe and the other... is subject to risks and danger, volunta...
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