Melville Fuller

“ The jury find the principal sum, and the time from which interest on the contract shall be given. In an action of tort the jury include interest, if given at all, in the damages assessed. The form of the judgment prescribed follows the verdict, discriminates between contract and tort, and recognizes that the judgments that carry interest do so by reason of the verdict to that effect. We think no support to the view that judgments in tort bear interest by force of law can be derived from these rules. ”

“ In the first place, the testimony on the part of the defendant is to the effect that the plaintiff had descended from the car in safety, and that he stepped and fell, from some cause not attributable to the conduct of the defendant, but from some unforeseen accident. If you find that to be the case, it is perfectly apparent that there is no ground of action at all. ”

“ If the conductor negligently failed to observe whether plaintiff had alighted, or, knowing that he had not, negligently started the car too soon, and in consequence of that a sudden jerk of the car took place, and threw him down, and was the immediate cause of his falling, and the accident would not have happened but for that fact, we think it clear that such negligence as might be imputed to the plaintiff in being upon the step at all could not, under the circumstances supposed, be properly held to have been contributory negligence. ”