Giddings v. Town of Ira
Giddings v. Town of Ira
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The notice to the defendant town was objected to for the reason that it was not seasonably given. If fractions of a day are to be disregarded, it is conceded that the notice was seasonably given. The general rule is that in law there are no fractions of a day. The exceptions made to the rule have
The’notice required by the act of 1874 was to be given within twenty days of the occurrence of the injury or damage. And if fractional parts of a day are to be regarded, it is not obvious why they were not considered in that case. The slight difference in the phraseology of the two statutes does not warrant a different rule of construction for the one, from the one adopted in the construction of the other.
It is said by Wilde, J., in Bigelow v. Wilson, 1 Pick. 485, that a day is considered as an indivisible point of time ; that there can be no distinction between a computation from an act done and a computation from the day in which the act was done — so that the notice we hold was seasonably given.
It appeared that the road upon which the accident happened was a mountain road, upon which there was not a large amount of travel, and it was claimed that the defect therein which occasioned the accident to the plaintiff, was a sudden and unforeseen defect, for. which the town was not liable.
To show that the defect was not of that character, the plaintiff was permitted to show how the defect was produced ; and that it had existed at other winters prior to his injury. The evidence was admissible to rebut the claim thus made by the defendant; and as tending to show negligence on the part of the defendant in not having made the needed repairs, it was permissible for the plaintiff to show how the repairs could have been made, and the expense of making them.
Exception was taken to the refusal of the court to charge as requested. The court charged fully upon the subject-matters involved in the requests, and the charge is referred to.
We have examined the charge, and find that as far as the defendant was entitled to a compliance with his requests, they were complied with.
The judge took great care in defining the legal rights and liabilities of the parties ; and in view of what appears as the history of the case, his presentation of it to the jury was eminently just and proper.
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.