Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ A statute of New Jersey provides that 'if any person shall be injured by an engine or car while walking, standing or playing on any railroad, he shall be deemed to have contributed to the injury sustained, and shall not recover therefor any damages from the company owning or operating said railroad,' with a proviso that the section shall not apply to the crossing of a railroad at a lawful crossing. ”

“ The statute seemingly adopts in an unqualified form the policy of the common law as understood we believe in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and some other States, that while a landowner cannot intentionally injure or lay traps for a person coming upon his premises without license, he is not bound to provide for the trespasser's safety from other undisclosed dangers, or to interrupt his own otherwise lawful occupations to provide for the chance that some one may be unlawfully there. ”

“ The ground of the decision seemingly is that the statute does not appear beyond doubt to apply to very young infants, although the word 'playing' sufficiently indicates that it had minors in view, even if the absoluteness of the opening phrase 'any person' were not enough to exclude the reading in of exceptions by the Court. ”