Custer v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 206 Pa. 529
• 9 Del. Co. 53
• 55 A. 1130
• 1903 Pa. LEXIS 755

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Province of court and jury.</p> <p>The definition of negligence and the determination of a standard of duty is always a matter of law for the court. In ease of dispute it is for the jury to say whether the facts come within the standard. Where the facts are clear and nothing remaius but the definition and application to them of the rule of conduct, the responsibility is upon the court alone.</p> <p>Negligence — Railroad—Speed of train — Crossing.</p> <p>There is no limit to the rate of speed at which a railroad company may run its trains through the open country and over the crossings of country roads, so long as the bounds of safety to patrons are not transgressed.</p> <p>In cities, towns and populous districts the speed of trains must bo moderated, or else the railroad must take reasonable precautions to make it safe for the public who have occasion to cross its tracks.</p> <p>Where a railroad has placed gates across a highway and has stationed a watchman there, to protect travelers on the highway, it may run its trains at high speed at that point, even if it be within the limits of a municipality or in a populous district.</p> <p>In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for the destruction of two horses and a wagon, the evidence is insufficient to submit to the jury which is in effect that plaintiff’s team in attempting to pass over a grade crossing in a populous suburb became stalled on the tracks of the railroad by reason of snow and ice on the planking; that before the horses could be unhitched, a train running at the schedule rate of sixly miles per hour reached the crossing and killed the horses; that an effort was made by the employees of the railroad to give notice to the approaching train by dispatching a man towards it with a red flag; that the crossing could be seen at a distance of some 4,400 feet looking through a tunnel, and that a block signal about seventy-five feet beyond the crossing was set to hold the train; bu