Sears v. Mayor & Aldermen of Worcester
Cases that cite this one
13 later published cases cite this decision.
- Kraas v. American Bakeries Co. (Ala. 1935)
- Colantuoni v. Selectmen of Belmont (Mass. 1951)
- Landers v. Eastern Racing Association, Inc. (Mass. 1951)
- Feeney v. Eastern Racing Ass'n (Mass. 1939)
- Walsh v. District Court of Springfield (Mass. 1937)
- A. Doykos & T. Pappas, Inc. v. Leventhal (Mass. 1935)
- Whitney v. Judge of the District Court (Mass. 1930)
- Kane v. Board of Appeals (Mass. 1930)
- Roman Catholic Archbishop v. Board of Appeal (Mass. 1929)
- Dowling v. Board of Assessors (Mass. 1929)
- Clark v. Henshaw Motor Co. (Mass. 1923)
- Byfield v. City of Newton (Mass. 1923)
- Swan v. Justices of Superior Court (Mass. 1916)
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
This is a petition for a writ of certiorari to quash the proceedings of the mayor and aldermen of the city of Worcester in making an ‘ assessment for street betterments, under the Pub. Sts. c. 51, § 1.
While several questions were presented to the Chief Justice of this court, and are before us, on his report, the only one argued by the petitioner is an exception to the ruling that the assessment was not void because it exceeded one half of the ad
We are of opinion that the ruling was right. As was said in ,Stone v. Boston, 2 Met. 220, 228: “ A petition for certiorari is addressed to the sound discretion of the court. It is not to be granted for the mere purpose of enabling a party to avoid the proceedings of an inferior tribunal, for technical errors. It must appear that manifest injustice has been done to the petitioner.” See also Pickford v. Mayor & Aldermen of Lynn, 98 Mass. 491, 496; Farmington River Water Power Co. v. County Commissioners, 112 Mass. 206, 212; Blake v. County Commissioners, 114 Mass. 583, 586; Lowell v. County Commissioners, 146 Mass. 403, 412; Haven v. County Commissioners, 155 Mass. 467 ; Devlin v. Dalton, 171 Mass. 338, 341.
It cannot be said in this case that manifest injustice has been done the petitioner. In the language of Chief Justice Gray, in Workman v. Worcester, 118 Mass. 168, 175: “A case can hardly be imagined which would more imperatively call for the application of the maxim de minimis non curat lex.”
Petition dismissed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.