{
  "id": 5268527,
  "name": "St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad Company v. James Thomas et al",
  "name_abbreviation": "St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad v. Thomas",
  "decision_date": "1868-01",
  "docket_number": "",
  "first_page": "116",
  "last_page": "119",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "47 Ill. 116"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill.",
    "id": 8772,
    "name": "Illinois Supreme Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [],
  "analysis": {
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    "simhash": "1:a1c73aa6a0f98add",
    "word_count": 1296
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T21:11:57.354715+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad Company v. James Thomas et al."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. Justice Walker\ndelivered the opinion of the Court:\n\u25a0This was an action on the case, for killing stock on appellant\u2019s road. The declaration contained three counts, to which a demurrer was filed and special causes were set down. The \u25a0first is, the want of a venue of the injury. The caption or \u25a0\u25a0\u2019.title'of'the declaration is, \u201c State of Illinois, Morgan county.\u201d The averment is that the company \u201c was then running divers .loc'omdtive engines and railroad cars, operated in and upon . \u2018saadirajj-'road track, by the servants and agents of said railroad company; and the said defendant so operating said T\u00f3e\u00f3mptiyes and cars, in and upon said railroad track, on the \u2022day and year aforesaid, ran said locomotive and cars against and upon one steer, the property of the plaintiffs, and then and there killed the said steer.\u201d While this is not accurately formal pleading, we think that the \u201c then and there \u201d obviously refers to the time and place previously mentioned. And, as but one date, and the name of but one place, had preceded this averment, they were referred to, and Morgan county being named in the caption to the declaration, it was thus named as the venue.. In the second and third counts, the venue is referred to as being at the \u201c circuit aforesaid.\u201d This answers the rule of pleading, that every traversable fact must be laid with a venue. It is true, this is but form, but appellants, as they had a right to do,' objected for the want of form, by setting it down as a special cause in their demurrer. This ground of demurrer was not well taken.\nIt was assigned as special ground of demurrer that there is no averment that the property killed was of any value. This point seems to have been abandoned, as it is not referred to in appellant\u2019s brief, and we, therefore, deem it unnecessary to enter into the consideration of this question.\nSo far as we can see, the declaration does negative all of the exceptions in the statute; it may be not in the most formal manner, but in substance. And it is sufficiently averred that the railroad was used and operated in the State of Illinois, arid within the jurisdiction of the court. And it' is averred that a fence was necessary to prevent stock from getting upon the railroad track at the place where it was killed. After a careful examination of this record, we perceive no error for which the judgment of the court below should be reversed, and it must be affirmed.\nJudgment affirmed.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. Justice Walker"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Messrs. Ketcham & Atkins, for the appellant.",
      "Messrs. Morrison & Epler, for the appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "St. Louis, Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad Company v. James Thomas et al.\n1. Pleading\u2014of laying the venue in the declaration. Where, in an action of trespass on the case, against a railroad company for killing stock, the first count in the declaration alleges the act complained of to have been committed \u201c at the circuit aforesaid,\u201d and that the defendant \u201cwas, then and there, a corporation, operating and doing business, under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Illinois, and was, then and there, possessed of a certain railroad track, over and upon which the said defendant was, then and there, running divers locomotive engines and railroad cars,\u201d\u2014although not accurate in form, the words \u201cthen and there\u201d obviously refer to the time and place previously mentioned, which appeared in the caption; no other time and place having preceded the phrase \u201c at the circuit aforesaid,\u201d in the averment, the venue is laid with sufficient accuracy.\n2. So, where the second and subsequent counts in the declaration, allege the act complained of to have been committed \u201cat the circuit aforesaid,\u201d and that the defendant \u201c was then and there running certain other locomotive engines and railroad cars,\u201d whereby certain other described stock were killed, and the plaintiff thereby sustained great damage, the venue in these subsequent counts in the declaration, was laid with sufficient accuracy.\n3. Same\u2014of the declaration. Where the declaration, in such a case, negatives in substance, all the exceptions in the statute, although not in the most formal manner, it is not demurrable on that ground alone.\nAppeal from the Circuit Court of Morgan county; the Hon. D. M. Woodson, Judge, presiding.\nThis was an action brought against a railroad company, to recover damages for killing stock. The declaration alleges in the first count, that on the ljth day of May, 1866, at the circuit aforesaid, the defendant was,, then and there, a corporation, operating and doing business under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Illinois, and the said defendant (the said St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Railroad Company) was, then and there, possessed of a certain railroad track, over, and upon which, the said defendant was, then and there, running divers locomotive engines and railroad cars, operated in and upon said railroad track by the servants and agents of said railroad company, and the said defendants, so operating said locomotives and cars in and upon said railroad track, on the day and year aforesaid, run said locomotives and cars against and upon one steer, the property of the plaintiffs, and, then and there, killed the said steer, and the said plaintiffs aver, that the said line of road, of the said St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Eailroad Company, had been open for use for more than six months, next before the killing of the said steer, as aforesaid, and the said railroad company had not, then and there, fenced the line of said railroad, when said steer was so killed, as aforesaid, on the sides of said track, with good and sufficient fences, suitable and sufficient to prevent cattle, horses, sheep and hogs from getting on to said railroad track; and the said plaintiffs aver, that said steer was not killed by said locomotive and cars, within the limits of any town, city, or village; and the said plaintiffs aver, that said steer was not killed at any place on said railroad track, where the same runs through open and uninclosed lands, situar ted more than five miles from any settlement; and the plaintiffs further aver, that the proprietors of the lands on the said track, where said steer was killed, had not made any contract with the said railroad company to fence the sides of said railroad track; nor, have the proprietors of said lands heretofore erected good and sufficient fences, on the sides of said track, where said steer was killed ; and the said plaintiffs further aver, that said steer was not killed at the crossing, on said railroad track, of any highway or public road, nor at any farm-crossing; and the plaintiffs further aver, that, at the place where said steer was killed, a fence was necessary at the time, to prevent cattle, horses, sheep and hogs from getting on to said railroad track.\nThe second count avers the same facts, except that seven hogs were killed on the 17th day of July, 1866, but does not aver that a fence was necessary to prevent cattle, &c., from getting upon the road, and that the railroad was bound to fence, at that point, or that the proprietors had not fenced, or agreed to fence the sides of said railroad, &c.\nThe third count avers the same facts as the first, except that one steer and ten hogs were killed, on 20th August, 1866, &c.\nThe defendant demurred to the declaration, and the demurrer being overruled, and the defendant abiding thereby, judgment was rendered against him for damages and costs. The defendant brings the cause to this court, and assigns for error, the overruling the demurrer, and judgment for damages \u25a0and costs of suit.\nMessrs. Ketcham & Atkins, for the appellant.\nMessrs. Morrison & Epler, for the appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0116-01",
  "first_page_order": 124,
  "last_page_order": 127
}