Ohio & Mississippi Railway Co. v. People ex rel. Van Gilder

Citations

• 149 Ill. 663

Syllabus

<p>1. Pleading — special demurrer. Although a declaration may be good in substance, yet il technically defective it will be error to overrule a special demurrer to it for such formal defects.</p> <p>2. Same—certainty in statement of facts. A general statement of facts which admits of almost any proof to sustain it, is objectionable. The pleading must set forth the facts with certainty, by which term is signified a clear and distinct statement of the facts which constitute the cause of action or ground of defense, so that they may be understood by the party who is to answer them, by the jury who are to ascertain the truth of the allegation, and by the court who is to give judgment.</p> <p>3. Same—declaration—failure of railway to give signals on approaching highway crossings.- A declaration in an action against a railway company to recover the penalty for a failure or neglect to ring a bell or sound a whistle for a distance of at least eighty rods from the place where the railroad crosses or intersects a public highway, is subject to special demurrer if it in no way describes the engines or trains referred to therein, and fails to show whether they were freight or passenger trains, and the time the alleged engines or trains passed oyer the crossing in question, or in which direction the said engines and trains were running along the defendant’s railway.</p>