Semple v. Mayor of Vicksburg

Citations

• 62 Miss. 63

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporation. Inability for acts of its employees. Negligence in constructing sewer.</p> <p>In one of the streets of the city of Vicksburg there is a sewer into which empty many inlets, some from privies and others from private yards and disconnected with any privies. The stench from the sewer having become very offensive to the citizens, the board of mayor and aldermen ordered the privy inlets to be closed. The agent employed ter carry out this order, by negligence or inattention, closed an inlet running from Mrs. S.’s house and not connected with any privy, in consequence of which the water from her house back-flowed and greatly damaged her premises. She sued the city for the damage to her property. At the trial, the court below excluded all of the plaintiff’s evidence, and the verdict and judgment were in favor of the defendant. Held, that the defendant is liable for such injury, upon the principle that a municipal corporation is liable for the acts of its workmen in constructing gutters, sewers, and drains where those acts are purely ministerial, involving the exercise of no governmental powers or judicial functions.</p>