Gilmer v. Higley

Citations

• 110 U.S. 47
• 3 S. Ct. 471
• 28 L. Ed. 62
• 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1652

Syllabus

<p>Common Carrier — Error—Evidence.</p> <p>1. In a suit by a passenger on a stage coach against the proprietors as common carriers, to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by the upsetting of the coach, the plaintiff as witness stated that he was received by-the driver as a passenger from Boidder to Helena without charge, and' that one of the defendants had said since the accident that the driver had orders to'carry him without fare to Helena; On cross-examination he was asked whether his fare was not demanded before the accident at Jefferson— a station between .Boulder and Helena — whether- he had not refused to pay it, or to leave the coach when required to do so. These cross-questions were objected to, and the objections sustained below! Held, That they related to the same transaction inquired of in' chief, and should have been allowed.</p> <p>2. When the record does not contain, all the evidence in a case, the appellate court .is not warranted in assuming that the refusal by the court at nisi prius to permit a question tó be put to a witness worked no injury to the party questioning. The farthest that any court has gone has been to hold that when it can bo seen affirmatively that the refusal worked no injury to party appealing, it will be disregarded.</p>