Samuel Nelson

“ Many individuals who lose their lives by the fault of persons and corporations are of age, unmarried, and have no next of kin dependent on them for support. We cannot suppose that the statute intended to give the representatives of such persons the right to sue in one section and make that right nugatory in the second section, by depriving them of all damages. ”

“ With this statute in force, Barron's executor brought a suit against the Illinois Central Railroad Company, to recover damages for the death of his testator, occasioned by the negligence of the company in conveying him as a passenger.
The deceased was killed while in the act of leaving the car in obedience to the orders of the conductor, who apprehended an immediate collision with an express train that was coming up behind with great speed, and which struck the car with such violence in the rear as to split and drive it on each side of the baggage car in front. ”

“ The proposition of the plaintiffs in error, that 'no recovery can be had in this case because the plaintiffs, or those for whom the action is brought, gain more by the death than the maximum of damages which can be recovered,' assumes what is untrue in fact. None of the beneficiaries of this action received anything by the death, except the father, who was the plaintiff and sole legatee.
But can it be supposed that the legislature designed to place the right to recover damages upon so uncertain a condition? A man is killed in a railroad collision; he has property; he leaves children ”

“ McCloskey, [11] the court say:
'The damages must necessarily be measured by the value of the life lost, and not by the pecuniary loss which the representatives shall have thereby sustained. The sanction of the law lies in the duty of compensation for the value of the life destroyed, measured according to its own merits, and not according to the necessities of the kindred.'
The Pennsylvania statute does not essentially differ from that of Illinois. ”

“ That to entitle the plaintiff to recover anything beyond merely nominal damages, the parties for whose benefit the action is brought must be shown by the evidence to have had at the time of the death of Barron a legal interest in his life, and that by his death they have been deprived of something to which they had a legal right. ”

“ And in a case [6] where a widow brought her action for the death of her husband, the same court held that although the jury might be charged that 'much is left, and much always must be left to your sound discretion,' it was because this was but an addition to the instruction that 'what the plaintiff had lost in a pecuniary point of view by the death of her husband, namely, a reasonable support and subsistence for herself,' was the rule to be observed.
The courts of Illinois have also examined the statute. ”

“ And that it is incumbent on the plaintiff, before he can recover anything more than nominal damages, to show by the evidence that there are persons in existence entitled to claim the indemnity given by the law, and that they have sustained a pecuniary loss justifying their claim. ”

“ It can rarely be done. The attempt to do it would substitute the opinion of witnesses for the conclusions of the jury. The facts proved will enable the jury to decide on the proper measure of responsibility. Some cases are harder than others, and the law intends that the jury shall discriminate in different cases. ”