Lenahan v. Pittston Coal Mining Co.

Citations

• 218 Pa. 311
• 67 A. 642
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 512

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Employment of infants — Age limit — Master and servant — • Contributory negligence — Mines and mining — Act of June 2, 1891, P. L. 176.</p> <p>The legislature, under its police power, may fix an age limit below which boys shall not be employed, and when that age limit is so fixed an employer who violates the act by engaging a boy under the statutory age, does so at his own risk, and if the boy is injured while engaged in the performance of the prohibited duties for which he was employed, his employer will be liable in damages for injuries thus sustained.</p> <p>Where a boy between fourteen and fifteen years of age is employed in a coal mine to oil machinery in violation of the Act of June 2, 1891, P. L. 176, which provides that, “no person under fifteen years of age shall be appointed to oil machinery and no person shall oil dangerous parts of such machinery while it is in motion,” and the boy is injured while oiling the machinery in motion, the employer cannot set up as a defense the contributory negligence of the boy.</p>