Miller Manufacturing Co. v. Loving

Citations

• 125 Va. 255
• 99 S.E. 591
• 1919 Va. LEXIS 20

Syllabus

<p>1. MASTER ANI) SERVANT-C1Vi1~d Labor Laiw-Proccimate Cause of Inji~y.-Acts 1914, ch. 339, section 8, declares that it shall be unlawful for the master to employ a boy over fourteen and under sixteen years of age without first procuring and keeping on hand what the statute denominates a certificate of employment. The employment of a boy over fourteen and under sixteen years of age without having procured such a certificate is a tort, and an injury to the child occurring in the performance of duties under such employment must be referred to the unlawful employment as the proximate cause of such injury.</p> <p>2. MAsTER AND SERVANT-Child Labor Law-Go~iztribi~tory Negligence.-Where a child over fourteen and under sixteen years of age is wrongfully employed without obtaining the certificate required by section 3, eh. 339, acts 1914, the doctrine i~i Virginia as to contributory negligence is applicable in an action for injuries $ustained by the child in the course of the performance by him of the duties for which he was employed.</p> <p>& MASTER AND SERVANT-Child Labor Law-Injwries to Child-Cas~ at Ba'r.-'rhe foreman of the defendant employed the plaintiff and permitted him to be put to work at a dangerous machine, with knowledge of the fact that he was between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years, and without having obtained the employment certificate required by section 8 of the act (Acts 1914, ch. 339, sec. 3). Such hiring, therefore, was. in contravention of the act and unlawful, and by its terms constituted an offense for which the defendant was liable to a fine, and, under section 2900 of the Code of 1904 and the decisions, to damages for any injury suffered by the plaintiff in the course of his employment, unless his right of action was barred 1~y his own contributory negligence.</p>