Commonwealth v. Allen
Commonwealth v. Allen
Opinion of the Court
The defendants were convicted in the court below of main
Upon the trial below, it appears that the defendants had been operating a stone quarry for several years. This quarry is situated on a public road about three miles from Rummerfield station. It is a narrow road with four bridges between the stone quarry and the station. For several years the defendants hauled the stone from the quarry in the ordinary manner by horses. Sometime during the year 1891, Charles A. Allen, one of the defendants, procured a traction engine, and put it on the road for the purpose of drawing heavier loads of stone. Behind the engine they hitched two wagons, one behind the other, making a train from fifty to fifty-five feet long, and, when loaded, weighing from thirteen to fourteen tons. They
We are not prepared to say that the indictment does not set forth a public nuisance, and that the jury were not justified in finding in the evidence the existence of such nuisance. The running of a traction engine over a public highway upon a single occasion would not constitute a public nuisance. That may be necessary to remove it from one location to another, as in the case of a steam-threshing machine, which is at certain seasons removed from one farm to another for the purpose of threshing out the farmer’s crops. Indeed, the act of June 30, 1885, seems to recognize such necessity, and prescribes the conditions and manner in which machinery propelled by steam, may be moved over a public road or highway. This, however, we regard as restrictive legislation. It was not intended to license the unrestricted use of steam upon the public highways of the commonwealth. While a man may have a light under this act of assembly to run a traction engine over a public road for a necessary purpose, by complying with the terms of the act, yet, if he uses that privilege in an unreasonable and in an unusual way, it may constitute a public nuisance. At common law, any obstruction which unnecessarily incommodes or impedes the lawful use of a highway by the public, is a nuisance: Angell on Highways, 255, § 223; 4 Bl. Com. 167; Com. v. Milliman, 13 S. & R. 404. Any such obstruction of a public
Aside from this, it was alleged on the part of the commonwealth that this traction engine, with the unusual load that it drew, injured the highway, and endangered the safety of the bridges. As a general rule, highways and bridges are constructed for ordinary use in an ordinary manner, and not for an unusual or extraordinary use, either by crossing at great speed, or by the passing of a very large and unusual weight. A township is not bound to do more than to so construct its bridges as to protect the public against injury by a reasonable, proper and probable use thereof, in view of the surrounding circumstances, such as the extent, kind and nature of the travel and business over them. There was evidence upon the trial below that the bridges on this road were built only for the usual and ordinary loads drawn over them, and that such loads were not more than one third or one fourth of the weight of the loads drawn by this traction engine.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Commonweath v. Allen
- Cited By
- 14 cases
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- Syllabus
- [Marked to be reported.] Criminal law — Obstruction of highways — Nuisance—Indictable offence. At common law any obstruction which, unnecessarily incommodes or impedes the lawful use of a highway by the public is a nuisance and indictable as such. A man may lawfully use a public highway in the transaction of his legitimate business, either for travel or for transportation, but such use must be reasonable, and the question of its reasonableness is to be determined by the jury. Traction engine — Use of steam, on highways — Act of June 30, 1885. The running of a traction engine over a public highway upon a single occasion would not constitute a public nuisance, as it might be necessary in order to remove it from one location to another. This necessity is recognized by the act of June 30, 1885, P. L. 251. This act was restrictive legislation. It was not intended to license the unrestricted use of steam upon the public highways of the commonwealth. Defendants operated a stone quarry from which they had been in the habit of hauling stone in the ordinary manner by horses. They procured a traction engine, by means of which they began hauling stone in two wagons, making a train from fifty to fifty-five feet long, which weighed when loaded from thirteen to fourteen tons, with which they made two trips daily from their quarry to the railroad station, a distance of about three miles. There was evidence that the train by its noise and appearance interfered with travel over the road by frightening horses, and that it obstructed travel. Held, That such use of the highway constituted a nuisance and the maintenance of it an indictable offence. Highways and bridges — Duties of township — Extraordinary use — Unusual loads. Highways and bridges are constructed for ordinary use in an ordinary manner, and not for an unusual or extraordinary use, either by crossing at great speed or by the passing of a very large and unusual weight. A township is not bound to do more than to so construct its bridges as to protect the public safety against injury by a reasonable, proper and probable use thereof, in view of the surrounding circumstances, such as the extent, kind and nature of the travel and business over them.