Note 219 — CULBERTSON v. CRESCENT CITY RAILROAD CO. Supreme Court, Louisiana, April 6, 1896. Reported in 48 Louisiana Annual Reports, Part 2, 1376.
Reading edition
In Kierzenkowski v. Philadelphia Traction Co., 184 Pa. St. 459, the plaintiff was a girl three years old, who had been knocked down by one of defendant’s horse cars. The court (inter alia) instructed the jury, in substance, as follows:—
The law does not allow that children of this age can be guilty of contributory negligence; but you are obliged to consider the case as to the negligence alone of the defendant. If you were driving along the street with your horse and wagon, and a child runs under the feet of the horses and is killed, you are not responsible; not because the child is guilty of contributory negligence, but because you are not guilty of negligence. If it is an unavoidable accident, you are not responsible. If the jury believe from the evidence in this case that the child suddenly and unexpectedly appeared in the vicinity of the track under such circumstances that the driver of the car could not have discovered its presence in time to avoid the accident, the verdict must be for the defendant.
An exception to the charge was overruled.