Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co. v. Voelker

Citations

• 129 F. 522
• 70 L.R.A. 264
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4063

Syllabus

<p>1. Railroads — Automatic Couplers — Statutes—Construction.</p> <p>Act March 2, 1893, c. 196, 27 Stat. 531 [3 U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3174], provides that after January 1, 1898, it shall be unlawful for any common carrier, engaged in interstate commerce by railroad, to haul or permit to be hauled or used on its line any car used in moving interstate traffic not equipped with couplers “coupling automatically by impact, and which can be uncoupled without the necessity of men going between the ends of the cars.” Code Iowa 1897, §§ 2097, 2080, declares that after the same date no corporation operating a railroad shall have upon such railroad in that state any car that is not equipped with “automatic couplers so constructed as to enable any person to couple or uncouple them without going between them.” Bela, that the test to be applied by both of said acts, viz., whether the person operating the coupler is required to go between the ends of the cars, applies to the act of coupling as well as that of uncoupling, and that the act of Congress forbids the use of a coupler which requires the operator to go between the ends of the cars to prepare the coupler for the impact.</p> <p>2. Act of Coupling Cars.</p> <p>The preparation of the coupler for the impact is not distinct from the act of coupling. The preparation and the impact are connected and indispensable parts of the larger act, which is regulated by the statute, and the performance of which is intended to be relieved from unnecessary risk and danger.</p> <p>3. Statutes — Construction.</p> <p>Statutes, the purpose of which is the protection of the lives and limbs of men, are so construed as to prevent the mischief and advance the remedy, so far as the words fairly permit.</p> <p>4. Statutes — Interpretation.</p> <p>Punctuation is a minor, and not a controlling, element in interpretation, and courts will disregard the punctuation of a statute, or repunctuate it, if need be, to give effect to what otherwise appears to b