Jolliefe v. Brown

Citations

• 14 Wash. 155

Syllabus

<p>CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — TITLE OP ACT — RAILROAD COMPANIES — STOCK KILLING — FAILURE TO FENCE TRACK — ATTORNEY’S FEES.</p> <p>Where the title of an act is comprehensive enough to embrace all its provisions, when the act is considered as a whole, the fact that certain sections are subsequently declared unconstitutional and stricken from the act will not necessarily render remaining sections unconstitutional on the ground that the title of the act is not broad enough to include such sections.</p> <p>■ A statute providing that a railroad company shall be subject to a penalty of double the value of stock killed by collision with its trains, in case of failure to notify the owner within forty-eight hours thereafter, is'unconstitutional, on the ground that it renders the company liable whether negligent or not, and whether or. not it had knowledge of the act, and regardless of whether or not the owner was at fault or had knowledge of the killing.</p> <p>There being no obligation upon railroad companies to fence their rights-of-way, a statute imposing a penalty for the killing of stock is unconstitutional.</p> <p>An act providing for an attorney’s fee to plaintiff in case of recovery against a railroad company for the killing of stock is unconstitutional, where it is not in the nature of a penalty for failure to perform a statutory duty, when the statute, does not provide for payment of a like fee by plaintiff in case he should be unsuccessful.</p> <p>A section of an act providing that, in actions for injuries to stock occasioned by collision with moving trains, proof that the railroad track was not fenced so as to turn stock, shall be prima facie evidence of negligence, merely establishes a rule of evidence, and is independent of other sections of the same act which are unconstitutional for the reason that they improperly impose- a penalty and attorney fees upon a railroad company for the killing of stock.</p>