Stehle v. Jaeger Automatic Machine Co.

Citations

• 220 Pa. 617
• 69 A. 1116
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 828

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Employment of minors under fourteen — Evidence—Act of May 2, 1905, P. L. 352 — Constitutional law— Police power.</p> <p>It is within the power of the legislature to fix an age limit below which children shall not be employed in dangerous kinds of work, and an employer who violates the law by engaging a child under the statutory age does so at his own risk, and in an action of trespass for personal injuries sustained in such employment, the master cannot set up as a defense either the assumption of risk or the contributory negligence of the child servant.</p> <p>The fact that the act of May 2, 1905 is penal in chare cter, and that violations of its provision are punishable by fine or imprisonment, does not render such remedies exclusive, and does not supersede the right of action for damages in a civil proceeding.</p> <p>The employment of a boy under fourteen years of age to do any kind of work in an establishment prohibited by sec. 2 of the Act of May 2, 1905, P. L. 352, and his employment to clean or oil machinery while in motion, prohibited by sec. 4, are both questions of fact to be submitted to the jury as evidence of negligence, and if the injury results by reason of the employment prohibited by law, there can and should be a recovery in the case; and this is so although the master may have given the boy proper instructions as to his work.</p>