David Josiah Brewer

Name: New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court
Author: David Josiah Brewer

New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

Summary

“New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court”, is a work by David Josiah Brewer. It explores elements such as carrier, passenger and assault.

Quotes from New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court (David Josiah Brewer)

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ If the immediate actor is free from responsibility because his act was lawful, can his employer-one taking no direct part in the transaction-be held responsible? Suppose we eliminate the employe, and assume a case in which the carrier has no servants, and himself does the work of carriage, should he assault and wound a passenger in the manner suggested by the instruction, it is undeniable that, if sued as an individual, he would be held free from responsibility, and the act adjudged lawful. ”

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Source: Wikisource

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ There is no misconduct when a conductor uses force and does injury simply in self-defense; and the rules which determine what is self-defense are of universal application, and are not affected by the character of the employment in which the party is engaged. Indeed, while the courts hold that the liability of a common carrier to his passengers for the assaults of his employes is of a most stringent character, far greater than that of ordinary employers for the actions of their employes, yet they all limit the liability to cases in which the assault and injury are wrongful. ”

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Source: Wikisource

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ It will be scarcely doubted that if the conductor was prosecuted criminally, it would be a sufficient defense that he honestly believed he was in imminent danger, and had reasonable ground for such belief. In other words, the law of self-defense justifies an act done in honest and reasonable belief of immediate danger. The familiar illustration is that, if one approaches another, pointing a pistol, and indicating an intention to shoot, the latter is justified by the rule of self-defense in shooting, even to death ”

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Source: Wikisource

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ In most of the cases in which an injury done by an employe has been the cause of the litigation, the defense has been, not that the act of the employe was lawful, but that it was a wanton and willful act on his part, outside the scope of his employment, and therefore something for which his employer was not responsible ”

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Source: Wikisource

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ In such a case, the passenger, by his own misconduct, has broken the contract of carriage, and he has no cause of action for injuries which result to him in consequence thereof. He has voluntarily put himself in a position which casts upon the employe both the right and duty of using force. There are many authorities which in terms declare this obligation on the part of the carrier, and justify the use of force by the employe, although such force, reasonably exercised, may have resulted in injury. But if an employe may use force to protect other passengers, so he may to protect himself. ”

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Source: Wikisource

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ If this shooting was lawfully done, and in the just exercise of the right of self-defense, there was neither misconduct nor negligence. It is not every assault by an employe that gives to the passenger a right of action against the carrier. Suppose a passenger is guilty of grossly indecent language and conduct in the presence of lady passengers, and the conductor forcibly removes him from their presence, there is no misconduct in such removal; and, if only necessary force is used, nothing which gives to the party any cause of action against the carrier. ”

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Source: Wikisource

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ It is urged that the carrier not only agrees to use all reasonable means to prevent the passenger from suffering violence at the hands of third parties, but also engages absolutely that his own employes shall commit no assault upon him. ”

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Source: Wikisource

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ Under the criminal law, if there is a reasonable doubt, it suffices to excuse, but the non-performance of contracts cannot be excused upon beliefs.' Special reference is made to the case of Steam-Boat Co. ”

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Source: Wikisource

David Josiah Brewer, New Orleans Company v. Jopes — Opinion of the Court

“ A preliminary question is raised by counsel for the defendant in error. It is insisted that the bill of exceptions does not show that this exception was taken at the trial, and while the jury was at the bar, and therefore not in time. ”

David Josiah Brewer

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