Du Hadaway v. Commissioners of Townsend

Citations

• 23 Del. 217
• 7 Penne. 217
• 82 A. 35
• 1904 Del. LEXIS 7

Syllabus

<p>Injuries to Plaintiff’s Property—Cutting Shade Trees—Authority of Town Commissioners—Liability of Town— Damages.</p> <p>1. If the Commissioners of a town, acting as such, either in a body or a majority of them so acting, employ a person to cut down a tree, it would be sufficient authority for the act. If a majority, or even less than a majority so contracted and the remaining commissioners, or all of them, approved, assented to or acquiesced in the act, then it would be done with authority.</p> <p>2. If a person makes application for permission to cut down a tree for his own benfit and the commissioners properly give him authority to do so, that would authorize him to cut it down in the proper way, and not improperly. The town commissioners, even if authority is given, would not be liable for the improper exercise of such authority.</p> <p>3. If the person who cuts down the tree has authority for the act, the town would be liable for such damages as were actually sustained; but to entitle the plaintiff to recover at all, the jury must be satisfied, that the person who cut the trees had the authority of the commissioners so to do, and that it was in the_interests of the town. The damages could only be actual damages, and in no event can recovery he had unless the injury was the result of negligence on the part of the person authorized by the commissioners of the county.</p>