Minnesota Supreme Court, 1876

Tait v. Thomas

Minnesota Supreme Court · Decided April 11, 1876 · Gileillan

22 Minn. 537; 1876 Minn. LEXIS 49 (Minnesota Reports)

Counsel

II. W. <& C. L. Brown, for appellants., B. A. Campbell, for respondents.

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Citation treatment has not been reviewed for this case. The notes below come from the citation graph and the Minnesota Revisor's amendment records, not from a review of how later courts treated this decision.

(as of 9/30/2026)

Last cited by a Minnesota appellate court in 1984, among the opinions in this site’s citation index.

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Cases that cite this one

4 later published cases cite this decision.

Neilan v. Braun (Minn. Ct. App. 1984)
Lawrenz v. Langford Electric Co. (Minn. 1939)
Huovila v. Frederick (Minn. 1925)
Helppie v. Northwestern Drainage Co. (Minn. 1914)

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

Gileillan, C. J.

There are two ways in which the amoxmt to be recovered, under the statute allowing treble damages for certain trespasses, (Gen. St. ch. 75, § 28,) may be ascertained: first, the coxxrt may instruct the jury to assess the actual damage, and render their verdict for treble *538that amount; second, it may instruct the jury to return the-single damage, and the fact whether the trespass was wilful or involuntary; and the court may then treble the damage-so found. The facts upon which the question of treble damages depends must be passed upon by the jury, and not by the court. In this case it does not appear what instructions were given to the jury. Their verdict was general, and, the contrary not appearing, it is to be presumed that, after ascertaining the character of the trespass, they have allowed the damages to which the plaintiffs are by law entitled. Livingston v. Platner, 1 Cow. 175.

Judgment affirmed.

Case-law data current through September 30, 2026. Source: CourtListener bulk data.