Brown v. Boston Ice Co.
Cases that cite this one
25 later published cases cite this decision.
- In re Deja Yu, Inc. (District Court, D. Massachusetts 1984)
- Miller v. Federated Department Stores, Inc. (Mass. 1973)
- Clemmons v. Life Insurance Company of Georgia (N.C. 1968)
- Birmingham Electric Co. v. Hawkins (Ala. Ct. App. 1953)
- Combs v. Kobacker Stores, Inc. (Ohio Ct. App. 1953)
- Georgia Power Co. v. Shipp (Ga. 1943)
- Plotkin v. Northland Transportation Co. (Minn. 1939)
- John v. Lococo (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) 1934)
- Cleveland Ry. Co. v. Huntington (Ohio 1928)
- Keller v. Gunn Supply Co. (Utah 1923)
- Matsuda v. Hammond (Wash. 1913)
- Dwyer v. Demarco (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div. 1970)
- Crawford v. Hotel Essex Boston Corporation (District Court, D. Massachusetts 1956)
- Shannessy v. Walgreen Co. (Ill. App. Ct. 1945)
- Jordan v. C. I. T. Corp. (Mass. 1939)
- Fanciullo v. B. G. & S. Theatre Corp. (Mass. 1937)
- State Ex Rel. Gosselin v. Trimble (Mo. 1931)
- Ciarmataro v. Adams (Mass. 1931)
- Biddle v. N.Y. Central Rd. Co. (Ohio Ct. App. 1930)
- Pruitt v. Watson (W. Va. 1927)
- O'Leary v. Fash (Mass. 1923)
- Douglas v. Holyoke Machine Co. (Mass. 1919)
- Collins v. Wise (Mass. 1906)
- Berry v. Boston Elevated Railway Co. (Mass. 1905)
- Obertoni v. Boston & Maine Railroad (Mass. 1904)
This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.
Opinion of the Court
The ground on which the plaintiffs contend that the defendant is liable for Sprague’s acts in beating them with the handle of the ice axe is that, from what Sprague said at the time, the jury were warranted in finding that he punished them in whole or in part for the purpose of making it easier for him to deliver ice from the defendant’s ice cart in the future, without an assistant and with slight care of the tools, and therefore the case is brought within Howe v. Newmarch, 12 Allen, 49. But in this case Sprague’s attack on the boys was an act of punishment inflicted for a past injury to his master’s property, and not in doing an act which he had to do if he performed the duty owed by him to his master.
It is not within the scope of the authority of a servant, to whose custody his master’s property has been confided, to undertake to secure it from future injury by committing the illegal act of inflicting personal chastisement on persons who have done damage to it in the past.
The case comes within Bowler v. O’Connell, 162 Mass. 319, Driscoll v. Scanlon, 165 Mass. 348, and in some aspects is like Porter v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, 41 Iowa, 358, and Candiff v. Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway, 42 La. Ann. 477.
Exceptions overruled.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.