Graham v. Railway, Gas Electric Co.
Graham v. Railway, Gas Electric Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
It may be that, in this casé,-defendant had no-objection whatever to the juror whose name was put on the list. It *471 may have preferred him above all others on the list. The record shows nothing to the contrary. Under such circumstances, the objection is purely technical, and to reverse the judgment upon such a technicality in procedure would be trifling with the administration of justice. If defendant had made it appear to the trial Court, as it could have done, if the fact had been so, that it had exhausted its peremptory challenges in striking from the list the names of others not wanted by it on the panel, and that it was thereby forced by the action of the Court to accept the juror so put upon the list, and that he, too, was objectionable to defendant, a different case would have been made; and, no doubt, if those facts had been made to appear, the trial Court would have delayed the trial until the attendance of a sufficient number of the extra venire could have been had to give defendant the benefit of the element of chance in drawing, such as is contemplated by the statute. In numerous cases, this Court has held that mere irregularities in the impaneling of a jury is not reversible error, unless shown to be harmful. Even in criminal cases, it has been held that where defendant has not exhausted his peremptory challenges, error in overruling objections for cause is hot reversible. State v. Hayes, 69 S. C. 295, 48 S. E. 251. In the Tidwell case, 100 S. C. 248, 84 S. E. 778, which is cited and relied upon by appellant, defendant had exhausted nine out of his ten peremptory challenges, and had to exhaust the tenth on the juror irregularly presented, and was, therefore, obliged to accept the next juror whose name was drawn. He was thereby denied the right to the element of chance which a- drawing in the manner prescribed by law would have allowed him.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Graham Et Al. v. Columbia Ry., Gas & Electric Co.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
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- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence. Railroads. Crossing Accidents. Contributory Negligence. Juries. Practice. Appeal and Error. 1. Appeal and Error—Harmless Error.—Impaneling op Jury.—Civ. Code 1912, sec. 4042, relative to irupaneling jurors for the trial of civil cases, requires the list of 20 jurors from which the parties are to strike names, to be drawn and selected from the whole number of jurors in attendance. When a case was called for trial enough jurors were not in attendance, and the Court ordered an extra venire drawn, but, when the first juror came in, put his name on the list and ordered the case to trial. It did not appear that defendant had any objection to such juror, or that it had exhausted its peremptory challenges, and was thereby forced to accept him. Held, that while the Court’s action was not in accord with either the letter or the spirit of the statute, it did not necessitate a reversal, since irregularities in the impaneling of the jury are not reversible error, unless shown to be harmful. 2. Negligence — Liability — Contributory Negligence.—Contributory negligence will not defeat a recovery for injuries caused by defendant’s recklessness. 3. Railroads — Crossing Accident — Actions for Injuries — Sufficiency of Evidence.—Where, in an action against an electric railway company, it appeared that a collision occurred at a crossing of a public road by defendant’s track, which was on a considerable grade, such as required the ear to be kept under control in approaching the crossing; that the car was being run at a high and dangerous rate of speed and was not under control; that the motorman gave no signal of the car’s approach, and was not even looking ahead until too late to prevent the collision; and that if he had been looking ahead he could have seen that plaintiff’s driver was turning across the track in time to stop the car, and prevent the injury—the evidence warranted a reasonable inference of recklessness. 4. Appeal and Error—Review—Questions of Fact.—Though in an action against an electric railway company the motorman’s recklessness testified to by plaintiff’s witness was denied by the motorman and the other eyewitnesses, this made only a conflict in the testimony, which it was the province of the jury to decide.