Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway Co. v. Miller

Citations

• 76 Ill. 278

Syllabus

<p>1. Negligence—care measured by the hazard and circumstances of the case. No obligation rests upon a railroad company to slacken the ordinary speed of its trains before reaching a highway crossing in an open level country where persons seldom pass. Neither the law nor the public safety demands such precautionary measures. But a different duty is imposed in crossing a street or highway in a city or village where persons are constantly passing and repassing. Under such circumstances, a much higher degree of care is necessary to insure the public safety.</p> <p>% Same—death by negligence of boy's attendant. In a case where the parents of a boy aged about nine years, intrusted him with a neighbor, and the two latter, in the neighbor’s wagon, while crossing a railroad track, were struck by a passing train, going at its ordinary speed, and the boy killed, and the proof showed that the train was in plain view for a considerable distance before reaching the crossing, and that a bell was rung as required by law, and where a recovery was had against the company for causing the death of the hoy, this court reversed the judgment, holding that the company was not responsible.</p>