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excavation before 1882. It is no answer to the plaintiff in respect of this new subsidence which is the injury to him, to tell him that the causa causans of that was the same as the causa causans of the old subsidence. That causa causans gave the plaintiff no right of action at all in either case, but the two different results from it have given the plaintiff two causes of action, and although it is true to say, that for the same cause of action successive actions for damages cannot be maintained, yet there may be any number of successive causes of action. This is the whole dispute between the parties. Therefore we must consider what is the real cause of action." Then after referring to the case of Lamb v. Walker, and particularly the opinion of the lord chief justice in that case, the court continues: "I cannot help thinking that the judgment of the lord chief justice, which he might have founded entirely upon Backhouse v. Bonomi, examines the whole subject afresh, and gives the most weighty reasons to show that in such a case as this the only cause of action is the subsidence of the plaintiff's land, and if that subsidence has been brought about by the defendants, whether or not by the omission of something after commission, that is without taking precautions against the conse quences of an act of commission by them, each subsidence is a new cause of action. * But what is to be done with a new subsidence? The mine owner has excavated on his own property; he knows that he caused a subsidence to his neighbor's property, and he knows that that neighbor is entitled to damages for it; will be run the risk of allowing the excavation to continue, the effects of which he may obviate by immediately putting up a wall or propping up his own property? If he does nothing he is not counteracting the effects on his neighbor's property, of something which he has done on his own; he is not counteracting that mischief to his neighbor by doing something on his own property; and if there is a new subsidence that will give his neighbor a new cause of action. The chief justice says it is difficult to conceive that the jury which is the tribunal, that is, to give damages for the first subsidence that is existing, ought to give damages for a prospective new subsidence, which the defendant has the option and the right to prevent; so that although before the verdict of the jury is given, or although at the time that that verdict is given the mine owner is doing that which will prevent any future damage, nevertheless the jury in the first action ought to take into consideration the prospective injury which might be thought likely to occur at the time when the action was brought. That seems to me to be a proposition, which when it is well sifted out and examined cannot stand, and therefore the chief justice's reasoning of itself and without reference to Backhouse v. Bonomi, is conclusive to show that each subsidence is a fresh cause of action. * * Therefore I agree with the lord chief justice's views, that each subsidence is a new cause of action, although the eausa causans of each subsidence may be the same."

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This case was carried to the House of Lords and the judgment of the Court of Appeals, Lord Blackburn dissenting, affirmed, 11 App. Cas. 127; 54 L. T. R. (N. S.), 882. The opinion of Lord Fitzgerald is the most convincing and satisfactory of the opinions delivered in the House. Indeed his reasoning and the reasoning of Cockburn, C. J., dissenting in Lamb v. Walker, can neither be answered nor even criticised. Lord Fitzgerald says: "The real though not the formal question for your lordships' determination is whether Lamb v. Walker, was correctly decided. Lord Blackburn rightly deals with this appeal in the same light as if it was an appeal from Lamb v. Walker. I do not propose to follow him in his instructive examination of that case, and Backhouse v. Bonomi, and his criticisms on those cases, but I think we may deduce

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from the authorities some propositions as now settled in law, and applicable to the circumstances of the appeal now before your lordships' house, and to similar cases. I proceed to state those propositions though in doing so I am conscious of the danger pointed out by Lord Bramwell. The excavations and removal of the minerals do not constitute any actionable invasion of the right of the owner of the surface, although subsequent events show that no adequate supports have been left to the surface. But when in consequence of not leaving or providing sufficient supports a disturbance of the surface takes place, that disturbance is an invasion of the rights of the owner of the surface, and constitutes his cause of action." (The italics are the writer's). "The foundation of the plaintiff's action then seems to be that although the excavation of the minerals was an act by the defendants in the lawful enjoyment of their own property, yet when subsequently damages arose therefrom tofthe plaintiff in the enjoyment of his property, the defendants became responsible. * Now as to the cause of action in 1868, there is no doubt that the mere excavation prior to or in 1868 was legitimate and not of itself alone the foundation of any right of action, but when the subsidence of that year took place and caused damages to the plaintiff's houses, then the defendants became liable to make good that loss, because though their acts were in the lawful use of their own property, yet the injurious consequences to the plaintiff might have been avoided. It is the disturbance then when it arises that is the cause of action, and not the prior legitimate act of the owners of the minerals in the lawful enjoyment of their own property. * * There was a subsidence in 1868, causing a special damage, giving the plaintiff a cause of action, and in respect to that damage he accepted compensation, which it seems is agreed is equivalent to a recovery of damages in an action, if such action had then been instituted. In 1882, a fresh and distinct subsidence took place, causing special damage to the plaintiff. It was admitted before your lordships that after the partial subsidence in 1868, the strata remained practically quiescent until the working of the coal in the next adjoining land by the owner thereof in the year 1882, which working caused a creep and a further subsidence; and further, that if the owner of the adjoining land had not worked his coal, there would have been no further subsidence, and that if the coal under the respondent's land had not been taken out, or if the appellants had left sufficient supports under the respondent's land, then the working of the adjoining land would have done no harm." (From this admission it is apparent that the subsidence was not in any sense a continuation of the subsidence of 1868 or 1871, but was occasioned by the working of the adjoining mine, and the failure of defendants to properly support the superior tenement. This is the construction which Lord Fitzgerald places on the admission. He says: "It will be observed on these admissions that the partial subsidence of 1868 had practically ceased, and that a fresh creep and subsidence took place in 1882, which would not have taken place if the defendants had left sufficient natural support under the plaintiffs' land, or we may add, had substituted adequate artificial support." Nor was the admission an admission that the subsidence was caused by t' removal by the defendants of coal since the remo which caused the subsidences of 1868 and 1871. Blackburn distinctly asserts that the admissio A. susceptible of that construction. "I do is abstand this to be an admission that the sg close to occasioned by the removal by the defe for that coal, than that the removal of whichass-and so, subsidence in 1868.") The case ther the question of the right to recover fo

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In McGuire v. Grant, 25 N. J. L. 356, the defendant had removed the lateral support of the plaintiff's land. Damages having been subsequently sustained, suit was brought. The statute of limitations was relied on as a defense, the removal of the lateral support having taken place beyond the statutory period. But the court held that the cause of action was the damage sustained by the falling of the land, and that the falling of the land having occurred within the time limited the statute of limitations was no defense. The case of Uline v. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. Co., 101 N. Y. 98, is an exceedingly important decision on the subject under consideration. It is true that the sub.. ject of future damages was not authoritatively settled in that case, as what was said on that point was mere obiter. But the opinion contains such a careful review of the whole matter that it will not be disregarded in the future by that tribunal.

independent subsidence, resulting from the excavation which occasioned the first subsidence (but not a continuation of that subsidence) without the intervention of any act of the defendants since the original excavation. Lord Fitzgerald continues: "There can be no doubt that though there had been no act of commission by the defendants since the completion of the excavation of 1868, yet if there had been no subsidence causing damage to the plaintiff prior to that of 1882, the present action could be maintained; but it is alleged that as the plaintiff had a complete cause of action in 1868, the statute of limitations then began to operate and has barred the present action. It was further argued that the plaintiff, in 1868, could and ought to have insisted on recovering once and for all any damage that might arise prospectively from the excavation of 1868 according to the rule of law, which in order to prevent a multiplicity of actions, provides that damage resulting from one and the same cause of action must be assessed and recovered once and for all. We have to consider what was the cause of action in 1868, and whether the cause of action of 1882 is one and the same cause of action as that of 1868. If it is so then the defendants are entitled to succeed on the defense of the statute of limitations. * * * It seems to me that Backhouse v. Bonomi, did decide that the removal of the subjacent strata was an act, (I will not say an innocent act) done in the legitimate exercise of ordinary ownership which per se gave no right of action to the owner of the surface, and that the latter had no right of action until his enjoyment of the surface was actually disturbed. The disturbance then constituted his right of action. There was a complete cause of action in 1868, in respect of which compensation was given, but there was liability to further disturbance. The defendants permitted this state of things to continue without taking any steps to prevent the occurrence of any future injury. A fresh subsidence took place causing a new and further disturbance of the plaintiff's enjoyment, which gave him a new and distinct cause of action. If this view is correct then it follows that the cause of action now insisted on by the plaintiff is not the same cause of action as that of 1868, but is in point of law as it ist tle to the land; and thus instead of conforming to physically a new and independent cause of action arising in 1882, to which the defense of the statute of limitations is not applicable. The necessary conclusion is that Lamb v. Walker, was not correctly decided, and that the able reasoning of Cockburn, C. J., in that case ought to have prevailed."

In Whitehouse v. Fellowes, 10 Q. B., N. S. 765, the defendants, as trustees of a turnpike company, had so constructed a drain along the highway as to cause injury by the flow of water to plaintiffs' mine. To the action brought to recover damages the defendants set up the statute of limitations; but the court held that the action was not barred, as the damages sued for had been sustained within the statutory period, although the construction of the drain was beyond that period. The Court of Appeals in Mitchell v. Darley Main Colliery Co., thus very clearly states the substance of the reasoning of the court in Whitehouse v. Fellowes: "The Court of Common Pleas said the causa causans of the injury to the property was a continuing cause, but that cause alone gave to the phine owner no cause of action. It was a cause which the hereby any damage was occasioned to a mine ownlawfuoroperty would immediately give him a cause of pose of It had given a cause of action some time ago of the cau.hat the trustees continued it. They might The cause of it. The continuing causa causans resubsidence toosmained in the power of the trustees, and menced running to injury to the mine owner's propIn Nicklin v. W. new cause of action because it was land owner's property in each case."

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The action was for unlawfully obstructing a street by the construction of a railroad, and the court charged that the plaintiff was entitled to recover the permanent damages to his property sustained by reason of the obstruction, on the theory that the obstruction was permanent in its nature. On appeal the court held that the plaintiff could not recover any damages; but the court went further and reviewed the charge of the trial judge, on the subject of permanent damages, and held that it was erroneous. The court said: “The question however still remains, what damages? Are her damages on the assumption that the nuisance was to be permanent, or only such damages as she sustained up to the commencement of the action?" There never has been in this State before this case the least doubt expressed in any judicial decision, so far as I can discover, that the plaintiff in such a case is entitled to recover damages only up to the commencement of the action. After reviewing many authorities the learned judge continues: "If the rule affirmed be the correct oue, then a railroad company authorized to construct its road may enter upon the lands of any private person and take them, and in a suit for trespass the plaintiff must recover his entire damages, and the railroad company must become substantially vested with the

the statute, it may acquire land by a pure trespass."

In Williams v. Pomeroy Coal Co., 37 Ohio St. 583, the facts were as follows: Defendants, while working their mine, broke over the line, and took coal from the mine of the adjacent owner. The trespass was committed in 1861. In 1868, the plaintiff while working his mine, the mine on which defendant had trespassed, broke into the excavation which defendants had made, and through the opening thus made water flowed into and damaged the plaintiff's mine. Action was brought to recover the damages suffered by plaintiff, and it was urged on his behalf that it was a proper case for the application of the doctrine of continuous nuisance, and that therefore every item of damage created a new cause of action. But the court held that the only wrong of which the defendants had been guilty was the original trespass committed when they broke through into plaintiff's mine in 1861, and that therefore the plaintiff's claim for damage was outlawed.

A recent case in the New Jersey Court of Chancery is very interesting and important. It is Executors of Lord v. Carbon Iron Manuf. Co., 8 Atl. Rep. 812. The syllabus states with precision the substance of the decision. "For a simple trespass, which is complete when the force by which it was committed ceases, and which is continuous in nothing but the consequences which may flow from it subsequent to its commission, the only remedy known to the law is an action of trespass, in which the person injured must recover his damages once for all."

"As a general rule the only legal duty which a trespasser incurs by his wrongful act, where his trespass is complete when judicial aid is invoked, is a liability to reimburse the person injured in money for the loss which his trespass has caused."

"If an upper mine owner breaks through a barrier which was left by the lower mine owner for the purpose of protecting his mine against the water which otherwise would flow from the upper into the lower mine, the trespasser is answerable for the damages, including the costs of restoring the barrier; but the trespass in such case imposes no legal duty upon the trespasser to either close the opening or to prevent the water in his mine from flowing through the opening into the lower mine."

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The flowage of water from the upper mine into the lower through an opening thus is neither the continuance of a trespass nor of a nuisance, and gives no distinct ground of action."

The suit was in equity to compel the defendants to protect the complainants against water flowing from defendants' mine into the mine owned by complainants through an opening. The court assumed for the purpose of the argument, what however was not the fact, that the defendants had made the opening, and that it was a trespass for which they were responsible. It was urged that although the action for the original trespass was barred by lapse of time, yet that every day's continuance of the opening gave the complainant a new cause of action, for the reason that the defendants owed to the plaintiffs the duty of repairing the breach, and that therefore equity would interfere to compel the performance of this duty to prevent a multiplicity of suits. On this point the court say: "Therefore if the wrong which forms the ground of his action had been committed on the surface, and had consisted of an excavation made in the complainants' land, and also of the removal of a solid stone wall erected by the complainants on their own land to prevent the water of a pond standing on the defendants' land from overflowing theirs, and the effect of the defendants' wrongful acts in making the excavation and removing the wall had been to produce a continuous discharge of the water of the pond over the complainants' land, which would continue, constantly inflicting additional injury so long as the wall was not restored, and the complainants had failed to apply for protection while the wrong was in progress, but came seeking it after all force and violence had ceased, and after the defendants' trespass as a legal wrong was fully completed, though its injurious consequences were still in progress, I consider it entirely clear on principle that under such a condition of facts this court would be powerless to give the complainants any relief whatever. It is certain that the trespass could not be restrained, for as already remarked, it is impossible to restrain or prevent the doing of that which has already been done. It is equally certain that this court has no power to decree the payment of pecuniary damages in satisfaction of such a wrong, and I know of no power in this court or in any other which gives it authority when one person had made an excavation in the land of another, to command the aggressor to go back and fill up the excavation, and restore the land to its original condition. Such a decree would, I think, be entirely anomalous, having the support of neither precedent nor principle. And it would produce this incongruous state of affairs: To redress the first trespass the court would command the aggressor to commit a second. Nor do I think this court has power in such a case to compel the wrong doer to erect a wall on his own land to protect the injured party against the consequences of his wrongful act. The practical effect of such an exercise

of power, it will be observed, would be to fasten a perpetual easement on the lands of the aggressor as a remedy for a trespass committed by him on the land of his neighbor. I have never understood that it was possible for any such consequences to flow from a trespass, nor that it was possible for an easement to have its origin in such a source. Acts which are wrongful in their origin may be repeated so frequently and so long as to raise the presumption of a grant, and thus to transform what was originally wrongful into a right; but I know of no act which a wrong-doer may do on the land of another which will give the person injured a right of any kind in the land of the wrongdoer.

"It would seem therefore to be entirely clear, that if the trespasses on which the complainants ground their right to relief had been committed on the surface, this court would have been without the slightest pretense of jurisdiction over the case, and that the only remedy to which the complainants could in that case have had recourse would have been an action at law. But the complainants say that their right in this respect is changed by the place where the trespasses were committed, and by the character and consequences of the trespasses. The proposition on which they rest their right to a remedy in equity is this: That the defendants, by their trespasses, having placed the two mines in such a position or relation to each other that water rising in the defendants' mine must necessarily, by force of the law of gravitation, flow into that of the complainants, they thereby imposed upon themselves as a consequence of their wrong a legal duty to prevent the water accumulating in their mine from flowing into the complainants' mine; and that inasmuch as the complainants can only have adequate protection against the injuries which will arise from the violation of duty, by an injunction commauding the defendants to prevent the water in the mine from flowing into the complainants' mine, their right to relief in equity is clear, for the reason that a court of equity is the only tribunal which can effectually and adequately redress their wrong. This proposition, it will be observed, goes to the length of declaring that it is a settled rule of law, that a trespass which is complete in every thing except its damnifying consequences when suit is brought, will in a case like the present raise a duty against the person committing it to do something more in making redress for it than to pay pecuniary damages. No such duty, it is clear, exists by force of any general principle, and if it exists at all, it must be as an exception to some general rule. According to the rule which prevails generally, if not universally, in such cases, the only legal duty which a trespasser incurs by his wrongful act, where bis act, as a legal wrong, is complete when judicial aid is invoked, is a liability to reimburse the injured person, in money, for all loss, both direct and consequential, which his trespass has caused. If A. breaks the windows of B.'s house, and a rain storm should afterward occur before B. could, by the exercise of reasonable diligence, have the windows repaired, and his house should in consequence be seriously injured by the rain, B. in a suit against A. would be entitled to recover all the damages which his house has sustained, as well resulting from the destruction of the windows as those subsequently caused by the rain. But B. could not leave his windows in the insecure condition in which A.'s wrongful act put them, and then maintain an action against A. for not repairing them. To allow B. to maintain an action against A. for not repairing the winduws would involve this absurdity: A. would have no right to enter B.'s close to repair the windows-if he went there, even for that purpose, he would commit a further trespass-and so,

if B. should be allowed to maintain an action against A. for not repairing the windows, his action would rest on A.'s not doing that which he had no right to do."

It has been held however that where the plaintiff sues merely at law to recover his damages, but brings a suit in equity to have the thing which causes him continuous damages enjoined and for damages, it is proper for the court to assess the permanent damages to his property sustained by the thing on the theory that it is to remain forever, and direct that the defendant pay such damages upon receiving from the plaintiff a deed of the property actually seized, and consequential damages to the other property of the plaintiff. Henderson v. New York Cent. R. Co., 78 N. Y. 423.

would be arrogating to itself a power not possessed by the court of chancery-the power to convert by decree, and against the consent of the owner, a mere trespass into a transfer of his property on receiving compensation. The doctrine that all damages connected with and flowing from a single cause of action must be recovered in one action, is so elementary, has obtained so long, and is founded upon such obvious principles of justice and reason, that no extended examination of the authorities will be attempted. The following cases, among others, which might be or have already been cited, sustain this doctrine: Donaldson v. M., etc., R. Co., 18 Iowa, 280; Penn. R. Co. v. Brooks, 57 Penn. St. 339; Filer v. N. Y. C. R. Co., 49 N. Y. 42; Holyoke v. Grand Trunk R. Co., 48 N. H. 541; Klein v. Jewett, 26 N. J. Eq. 474; M., etc., R. Co. v. Whitfield, 44 Miss. 466; Whitney v. Clarendon, 18 Vt. 252.

And yet, in the face of this well-settled doctrine, we find the English Court of Appeal, or rather the judges of that court, totally disregarding it, in the case of Brunsden v. Humphrey, 24 Am. Law Reg. 369. Plaintiff's person and cab were injured by the negligence of defendant's servants. Having recovered damages in one action for the injnry to his cab, he brought a new action for the damages to his person. Held, he could recover, the ground of decision being, that as plaintiff was injured in two distinct rights-person and property-he could maintain two distinct actions. Lord Coleridge dissented, saying: "That the injury done to the plaintiff is injury done to him at one and the some moment, by one and the same act, in respect of different rights, i. e., his person and his goods, I do not in the least deny; but it seems to me a subtlety not warranted by law to hold that a man cannot bring two actions if he is injured in his arm and in his leg, but can bring two, if besides his arm and leg being injured, his trousers which contain his leg, and his coatsleeve which contains his arm, have been torn. The consequences of holding this are so serious, and may be very probably so oppressive, that I at least must respectfully dissent from a judgment which establishes it." In the court below the two members of the court agreed with the views expressed by the Lord Chief Justice. See opinions of Pollock, B., and Lopes, J., in 11 Q. B. Div. 712.

The court said: "In view of the annoyance and expense incident to the stoppage of the defendant's trains, it was just to open the doors of escape and permit the defendant at once to acquire title to the land, and thus avoid the delay incident to other proceedings for that purpose; but it was notwithstanding optional with the defendant to comply with the condition. The plaintiffs could not require it, but they would be bound by the judgment, and the defendant become on performing the condition purchaser of the land, with rights not inferior to those obtained by appraisement and payment of damages under the statute. * * * It is however objected that the plaintiff should have in this action no damage save for the actual trespass to the time of bringing the action, and should by successive actions have accruing damages for the maintenance of the railroad subsequent to the commencement of the action, or only nominal damages for the original trespass, until by the action of ejectment he has possession, and that for damages in the depreciation in value above referred to, he should wait until the defendant institutes proceedings to acquire title under the statute relating to that matter. If that is so, a court of equity is powerless, the multiplicity of actions not prevented, and a new and altogether useless litigation encouraged for no good purpose. I think the objections not tenable, and discover no reason for denying any relief to which the plaintiff would in any action or before any tribunal be entitled. The defendant has for the purposes of its incorporation, entered upon an exclusive and permanent occupation of the land, embedded therein its tracks, and is enjoying it as fully as if the right to do so had been legally secured. In that event compensation must have been made to the owner, and the two things concurring, the title of the defendant would be complete and the owner legally❘erable. satisfied. The same result should be reached in this proceeding. The parties are before the court; they have had their day. Those matters have been passed upon which might have gone before commissioners under the statute, and for every trespass the plaintiff may recover in this action."

This case is not in conflict with Uline v. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. Co., 101 N. Y. 98, as the plaintiff is not bound to proceed in equity, and it is only when he invokes the aid of an equitable tribunal that the court will compel him to accept his permanent damages and grant and release his rights to the defendants. It is entirely proper for a court of equity to grant this relief, for the defendant could obtain the same result by proceeding under the statute to condemn the plaintiff's property. The measure of damages in such a proceeding and the rights secured by the defendant would be precisely the same. However it may be safely asserted that the plaintiff, suing in equity, would not be compelled to accept such damages and convey and release his rights where the defendant would not have the right to seize the property of the plaintiff under the right of eminent domain. This

What future damages can an injured party recover? This is an important inquiry where the law requires him to have all his damages assessed in one suit. The rule which is sustained by the authorities is that future damages must be reasonably certain to be recovStrohm v. N. Y., L. E. & W. R. Co., 96 N. Y. 305; Curtis v. R. & S. R. Co., 18 id. 541; Fyler v. N. Y. C. R. Co., 49 id. 45; Lincoln v. S. & S. R. Co., 23 Wend. 425-435; Piller v. S. P. R. Co., 52 Cal. 42.

In the case first cited it was held erroneous to allow a physician to testify what a patient may in the future suffer from an injury. The court said: "It is not enough that the injuries received may develop into more serious conditions than those which are visible at the time of the injury, not even that they are likely to so develop. To entitle a plaintiff to recover present damages for apprehended future consequences, there must be such a degree of probability of their occurring as amounts to a reasonable certainty that they will result from the original injury."

An interesting question will arise when the victim of some injury, who has recovered in an action his present and all future damages which were reasonably certain to flow from the injury, suffers further damages from the same cause of such a nature that they. could have been recovered in the first action had they been susceptible of legal proof, and then in a second action seeks to recover such unforeseen damages. The doctrine already adverted to would seem to be fatal

to such an action. But will the law prevent the recovery of damages in the first action, and then deny the new action, which the rule that the damages must be reasonably certain has rendered necessary, to give the injured party full redress? Ought the rule against the splitting of damages by a party be extended to cases where the party in good faith endeavors to recover all his damages, past and future, and is prevented by the law from recovering a portion of the damages which he afterward suffers? So far as his damages are known or are reasonably certain he cannot have them assessed in two different actions; but unknown and unprovable damages stand on an entirely different footing. To that extent the cause of action cannot be said to be complete, for how can there be a right to recover damages which have not yet been sustained, and which cannot be established by legal evidence? Moreover the injustice of the rule which would preclude the right to maintain a second action is palpable. The plaintiff must wait till he is able to prove all future damages in the first action, and if it becomes necessary to wait many years, his cause of action will be forever without the right to recover a penny. The law inconsistently says to him: You must seek no redress untii you can prove all damages, for unforeseen damages cannot be recovered in a second action; and if you wait too long, although it is necessary to wait that length of time, or even longer, to prove all your damages, the law will defeat your claim altogether." This places the suitor between Scylla and Charybdis.

It is frequently important to ascertain to what extent future damages may be recovered, where some cause for which the wrong-doer is not responsible aggravates the injury. A discussion of this subject will not be attempted, as it relates as well to present as to future damages. The general rule which has the sanction of the greater number of cases is that where the aggravating cause is one for which the injured party is not responsible, and is not another injury, the wrong-doer is as much responsible for the aggravated damages as for the ordinary damages. If for instance the plaintiff has an organic difficulty or a predisposition to some particular disease, which aggravates into a serious and permanent disorder or injury what would have been otherwise only a slight shock or bruise, the tort-feasor must make good the entire damage, including that which the existing condition of the plaintiff has caused. McNamara v. Village of Clintonville, 22 N. W. Rep. 472 (Wis. Sup. C.); B. C. P. Ry. Co. v. Kemp, 61 Md. 619; Brown v. Chicago etc., R. Co., 54 Wis. 242; Tice v. Munn, 94 N. Y. 621; Murdock v. Boston, etc., R. Co., 133 Mass. 15; Cincinnats, etc., R. Co. v. Eaton, 94 Ind. 474. See also McMahon v. Fields, L. R., 7 Q. B. Div. 591; Ehrgott v. Mayor, 96 N. Y. 280. But see contra, Pullman Palace Car Co. v. Baker, 4 Col. 344; S. C., 34 Am. Rep. 89-92; and Hobbs v. L. & S. W. R. Co., L. R., 10 Q. B. Div. 111. GUY C. H. CORLISS.

GRAND FORKS, DAKOTA.

[See Hargreaves v. Kimberly, 26 W. Va. 787; S. C., 53 Am. Rep. 121; Nat. Copper Co. v. Minn. Mining Co., 57 Mich. 83; S. C., 58 Am. Rep. 333.-Ed.]

MARRIAGE-LIABILITY OF WIFE ON JOINT OINT

NOTE-PARTNERSHIP.

NEW YORK COURT OF APPEALS, JUNE 7, 1887.

NOEL V. KINNEY.

A man and his wife, who owned improved real estate in her own right, used the name of "J. P. K. & Co." as a mat

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G. Storms Carpenter, for respondent.

DANFORTH, J. The action is upon a note signed "J. P. Kinney & Co.," payable to the order of plaintiffs at bank, for $505, value received. The complaint contains allegations usual in such cases, and sufficient to charge the defendants as partners under the name affixed to the note. Frederica M. Kinney alone answered, and her sole defense is that at the time stated she was a married woman, and that the note was executed and delivered by her husband. But there is no allegation that it was made without her knowledge and consent, nor that it was made without her authority. Upon the trial the plaintiff put the note in evidence, and the defendant proved her marriage with the other defendant. But there was evidence from which the jury might have found that she was the owner of improved real estate in the city of Brooklyn; that the consideration of the note was the purchase price of mirrors placed in houses built upon her land, and that the mirrors were unpaid for. The note was fairly taken, and the consideration delivered upon the representation by the husband that the wife was the sole owner of the property, and that the name of J. P. Kinney & Co. was used as mere matter of convenience in transacting her business. It does not ap

pear that there was any business except in relation to the houses. No question was made as to the authority of defendant's husband to execute the note, nor as to the truth of his representations.

The defendant Frederica moved to dismiss the complaint upon the ground that as to her the note was invalid, "its form," as her counsel stated, "showing that it was not given in respect to her separate busi ness or estate." The trial judge directed a verdict for the plaintiff, subject to the opinion of the court. It was so rendered, but on motion of the defendant's counsel, afterward set aside by the same judge, and judgment ordered for the defendant. Exceptions taken by the plaintiffs to this ruling were directed to be heard in the first instance at General Term, judgment in the meantime to be suspended. The General Term overruled the exception, and ordered judgment for the defendant.

It is obvious that the contract in fulfillment of which the note was given was of value to the defendant, for by it she acquired articles for the improvement of her property. She retains those articles, and has so far avoided payment upon the ground that she and her husband, upon contracting and consummating marriage, became one person, and so incapable of thenceforth contracting one with the other; that therefore they could not be partners; and as the contract sued on was in form a copartnership contract, it could not be enforced against her. If this is the present rule of law, then the statutes which enable the woman to acquire and hold property, to bargain, sell, assign and transfer it, to carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or service on her own account, and which protect her in the enjoyment of her earnings from her trade, business, labor or services, and permit her to use and invest those earnings, are effectual only so far that she may, alone or jointly with any person or persons save her husband, derive

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