Illinois Central Railroad v. Crockett

Mississippi Supreme Court
Illinois Central Railroad v. Crockett, 78 Miss. 407 (Miss. 1900)
Whitfield

Illinois Central Railroad v. Crockett

Opinion of the Court

Whitfield, C. J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

It is impossible to support this verdict, even on the plaintiff’sown testimony. He was plainly guilty of contributory negligence. He says the Batesville accommodation train, by which he was struck, had been on only a week, and when asked whether all trains stopped at the switch, he did not answer at all. This is utterly unsatisfactory evidence of a general custom. It is true he was only fourteen years and five months old, but he was a bright boy, thoroughly familiar with the-location and movement of all trains. Making all due allowance for his age, it is obvious that he was mature enough and had discretion enough to make him plainly chargeable with contributory negligence, on his own testimony. The mere existence of the custom, if it had been satisfactorily shown, to-stop at the switch, would not relieve him of the duty of relying as well on his own prudence and use of ordinary care as on the custom. He was still bound to the use of his senses, and could not, whilst plainly discarding their use, 'recover on the *413mere ground that the appellant had violated its rule, such violation not being wilful, but merely negligent.

Reversed and remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Raymond Crockett
Cited By
1 case
Status
Published
Syllabus
.Railroad. Negligence. Rules. Contributory negligence. Infant. An intelligent boy, fourteen years and five months old, familiar with the location and movement of trains, who walks upon a railroad side track in front of a train, which he sees beyond a switch and knows to be approaching, is guilty of contributory negligence and cannot recover of the railroad company for his injuries, if he remain on the side track until he is struck by the locomotive, although the engineer negligently violated the custom and a rule of the company in not stopping his train before entering the switch and taking the side track.