Noah Haynes Swayne

“ It is now a settled rule in the courts of the United States that whenever, in the trial of a civil case, it is clear that the state of the evidence is such as not to warrant a verdict for a party, and that if such a verdict were rendered the other party would be entitled to a new trial, it is the right and duty of the judge to direct the jury to find according to the views of the court. Such is the constant practice, and it is a convenient one. It saves time and expense. It gives scientific certainty to the law in its application to the facts and promotes the ends of justice. ”

“ The validity of the ordinance creating the fire department was not questioned in the argument here, and we see no reason for doubt upon the subject. The statute which authorized the ordinance declared that 'the engineers or other officers,' appointed pursuant to the provisions of the latter, should be clothed with all the powers and duties 'conferred upon fire-wards by the Revised Statutes or special acts relating to the city of Boston now in force,' and that the city council might 'make such regulations in regard to their conduct and government' as it might see fit to ordain. ”

“ The law of the case has been clearly laid down by the highest judicial court of the State, and we cannot do better than quote it at length.
'The plain intent of the statute is that no house or building shall be demolished unless it shall be judged necessary by three fire-wards, or by the other officers authorized to act in their absence, or where no fire-wards have been appointed. It is the united judgment of the officers to whom the power is given, acting upon the immediate exigency, and determining the necessity, which is contemplated by the statute. ”