Note 103 — Chapter II · NEGLIGENT INTERFERENCE (continued 3)

“The maxim res ipsa loquitur is simply a rule of evidence.

The general rule is that negligence is never presumed from the mere fact of injury, yet the manner of the occurrence of the injury complained of, or the attendant circumstances, may sometimes well warrant an inference of negligence. It is sometimes said that it warrants a presumption of negligence, but the presumption referred to is not one of law, but of fact. It is, however, more correct and less confusing to refer to it as an inference, rather than a presumption, and not an inference which the law draws from the fact, but an inference which the jury are authorized to draw, and not an inference which the jury are compelled to draw.” Cobb, J., in Palmer Brick Co. v. Chenall, 119 Ga. 837, 842. See Sweeney v. Erving, 228 U. S. 233, 240; Harlow v. Standard Imp. Co., 145 Cal. 477; National Biscuit Co. v. Wilson, 169 Ind. 442; O’Neil v. Toomey, 218 Mass. 242; Lincoln v. Detroit R. Co., 179 Mich. 189; Boucher v. Boston R. Co., 76 N. H. 91; Ross v. Cotton Mills, 140 N. C. 115. But compare Thompson v. St. Louis R. Co., 243 Mo. 336, 353.